The news: OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT ads beyond its single ad format, per Digiday.

• Carousels will show multiple products grouped by relevance and could ultimately involve competing retailers appearing together in the same carousel.
• OpenAI’s algorithms will decide whether a query prompts a single product ad or a carousel, as well as which ad type is served to users.

What it means: After a relatively cautious first few months of monetization, OpenAI appears to be entering an experimentation phase for ChatGPT’s nascent ad business.

It’s moving past simply proving ads can coexist with ChatGPT answers without alienating users and into figuring out what an OpenAI ad business should look like. This includes testing how much ad inventory it can introduce, how automated that inventory should be, and which digital ad formats best translate inside conversational AI.

The company’s ad business is converging with commerce search, with OpenAI retaining control of ad selection as formats expand. This adds more commerce opportunities, but less advertiser control.

If OpenAI boosts the number of advertisers that can appear within a single AI response, it would increase revenues per user query, supporting its optimistic goal of surpassing $100 billion in ad revenues by 2030. We forecast that the chatbot ad market as a whole, including ChatGPT, will total just $5.41 billion in 2030.

Recommendations for advertisers: More formats could equal more budget eligibility, making it easier for brands to consider ChatGPT as a competitive media channel—especially as planning for holiday and 2027 approaches. However, OpenAI’s ad business remains underdeveloped, with weak campaign performance insights compared with rivals like Google and Meta and buying processes that are reportedly lower tech.

• Measure clickthroughs to see whether carousels that include multiple options rather than a single product improve users’ trust in sponsored answers.
• Limit spend within platforms like ChatGPT to smaller, experimental increases, and push for evidence of advertiser satisfaction and conversion rates.