After learning about the HubSpot partnership with OpenAI for ChatGPT Ads at the Unbound conference on September 16, I began experimenting. My results so far have been promising. Because this advertising program is so new, marketers have an opportunity to experiment while ad rates are relatively low cost.
ChatGPT Ads were launched earlier this year and OpenAI says ChatGPT Ads reached $1 billion in annualized revenue. The HubSpot partnership was launched at Unbound.
The ChatGPT Ads system uses the context of ChatGPT conversations to show an ad relevant to what someone is exploring. Because the ads are in context of a chat, it’s different than Google’s keyword matching.
I created ads around my work in fandom marketing and my new book The Fandom Playbook. I’m seeing about 0.5% click through rates and about $10 CPMs.
I remember way back in the early days of Google Search ads when these sorts of costs were the norm. Now many high value keywords on Google are fabulously expensive!
As marketers gain experience with ChatGPT ads and OpenAI figures out ways to show a positive ROI, I expect adverting costs to increase significantly, so now is the time to experiment.
Ads in context based on relevance
ChatGPT Ads aren’t based on exact-match keywords like Google.
Instead, advertisers tell the system context hints that describe the conversations, topics, or keywords where their products or services may be relevant.
“Our ads system selects and delivers ads based on expected relevance and outcomes,” OpenAI says. “It considers multiple signals, including the context and intent of the current conversation, the ad’s landing page, title, copy, advertiser-provided context hints, and, when ads personalization is enabled, select signals from a user’s broader ChatGPT experience.”
A significant drawback to the ChatGPT ad program is that the ads are only shown to the free tier of ChatGPT users. That means that many business users who pay for the premium plans won’t see ads. That’s a problem for B2B marketers.
Have you tried the new ChatGPT Ads? If yes, I’m interested in what results you’re seeing.
