ChatGPT Ads · Status at source date: Newsletter archive
ChatGPT Ads trial shows low CTR and slow spend pacing
Ashley Fletcher of Adthena reported further observations from the ongoing ChatGPT Ads trial. One advertiser has spent only 3% of their allocated $250,000 budget.
What changed
Click-through rates on one batch of impressions fell well below Google Search benchmarks. The findings align with Adweek's earlier reporting that OpenAI's ad infrastructure is still maturing and that its CPM-heavy pricing model ($60 per thousand impressions) is difficult to justify given unclear conversion performance.
The challenges are partly structural: users come to ChatGPT with informational intent in conversational mode rather than transactional intent in a search box. Ads that feel native to conversational search require different creative approaches than display or even Google Search ads.
Why it matters for advertisers
For you, this means early mover advantage in ChatGPT Ads comes with low expected performance: budget allocations should reflect experimental rather than performance objectives, with measurement focused on learning rather than ROI in the near term.
Perspective from the original PMC newsletter.Sources & contributor credit
- Newsletter coverage · Paid Media Collective newsletter
Original newsletter text, contributor labels and media for this update.
- Mismatched link retained for historyLinkedIn
Attribution audit: this post is about the ChatGPT shopping homepage, not advertising-trial CTR or spending.
Attribution needs clarification
The newsletter credits Ashley Fletcher for advertising-trial results, but the linked post and screenshot concern Juozas Kaziukėnas’s discovery of a shopping homepage. They do not establish the creator of this advertising-trial update.
Attribution evidence and limitations
Read the linked post: it describes finding ChatGPT’s shopping homepage, not ad CTR or spending data.
The linked post identifies Juozas Kaziukėnas. That identity has not been substituted for Ashley Fletcher because the linked story is different.
Visually confirmed that the screenshot shows the shopping homepage and a Juozas Kaziukėnas account label. Removed this unrelated screenshot from the article display and retained the captured evidence.
Attribution checked . This is a review date, not the original publication date.
- Published on this site
This update reflects the dated source reporting. Availability may have changed. Further coverage of this same development will be added to this page.
Original newsletter text and archive evidence
ChatGPT Ads trial shows low CTR and slow spend pacing
Ashley Fletcher of Adthena reported further observations from the ongoing ChatGPT Ads trial. One advertiser has spent only 3% of their allocated $250,000 budget. Click-through rates on one batch of impressions fell well below Google Search benchmarks. The findings align with Adweek's earlier reporting that OpenAI's ad infrastructure is still maturing and that its CPM-heavy pricing model ($60 per thousand impressions) is difficult to justify given unclear conversion performance.
The challenges are partly structural: users come to ChatGPT with informational intent in conversational mode rather than transactional intent in a search box. Ads that feel native to conversational search require different creative approaches than display or even Google Search ads.
For you, this means early mover advantage in ChatGPT Ads comes with low expected performance: budget allocations should reflect experimental rather than performance objectives, with measurement focused on learning rather than ROI in the near term.
Source captured . No explicit first-contributor label was provided for this update.
