OpenAI has announced the next major step in its ChatGPT ads pilot: a new beta self-serve Ads Manager, expanded partner access, CPC bidding, and conversion measurement tools.

For advertisers, this is a meaningful moment. ChatGPT is not just another ad inventory source. It is a high-intent conversational environment where users often ask for recommendations, compare options, evaluate services, and decide what to do next.

That does not mean every advertiser should rush in blindly.

Based on OpenAI’s announcement and the current signup flow, there are a few practical limitations advertisers need to understand immediately: the self-serve system appears to be built for businesses advertising on their own behalf, agencies cannot currently create advertiser accounts for clients directly, and business verification is required before running ads. In the current flow we reviewed, that verification process requires an EIN, which may create friction for sole proprietors, very new businesses, some contractors, and agencies trying to onboard client campaigns quickly.

OpenAI says advertisers can now buy ChatGPT ads through partners or through the new beta self-serve Ads Manager, which is beginning with U.S. advertisers. The system supports campaign setup, budgets, bids, pacing, ad uploads, payments, campaign management, and performance reporting inside the portal.

What OpenAI Actually Announced

On May 5th, 2026, OpenAI announced “New ways to buy ChatGPT ads,” expanding its ChatGPT advertising pilot beyond a smaller group of directly managed advertisers.

The important parts of the announcement are:

• OpenAI is launching a beta self-serve Ads Manager for advertisers in the United States.
• Advertisers can also access ChatGPT ads through agency and technology partners.
• OpenAI is adding cost-per-click bidding, in addition to CPM buying.
• OpenAI recently launched Conversions API and pixel-based measurement.
• OpenAI says ChatGPT answers remain independent from ads, conversations stay private, and advertisers do not receive individual conversations or personal details.

That last part matters. OpenAI is trying to draw a hard line between the ad system and the answer system. In plain English: the ad may appear around or near the user experience, but OpenAI is saying advertisers do not get to influence ChatGPT’s organic answers, and they do not get access to private user conversations.

That is a very different positioning from traditional paid search, where the ad unit and the search result page are part of the same commercial interface.

Update Vitals

• Announcement: OpenAI expands ways to buy ChatGPT ads
• Date announced: May 5th, 2026
• Product: ChatGPT Ads / ChatGPT Ads Manager
• Availability: Beta self-serve access beginning with U.S. advertisers
• Buying methods: Partner-managed buying and beta self-serve buying
• Bidding models: CPM and CPC
• Measurement: Pixel-based measurement and Conversions API
• Verification: Required before running ads
• Agency limitation observed: Agencies cannot currently create advertiser accounts for clients in the observed signup flow
• Most important unknowns: Ad formats, auction mechanics, targeting depth, reporting granularity, policy enforcement, quality scoring, brand safety controls, and how ads are triggered by user intent

The Signup Flow Already Has Important Limitations

Before advertisers get too excited about a new paid media channel inside ChatGPT, they need to understand something very practical: the current account setup process is not as open-ended as many agency teams might expect.

The two biggest issues we observed are:

• OpenAI requires business verification before advertisers can start running campaigns.
• Agencies cannot currently create an advertiser account directly on behalf of a client in the self-serve signup flow.

The Big Practical Catch: Agencies Cannot Sign Up on Behalf of Clients

This is the first operational issue paid media teams need to know.

In the current Ads Manager signup flow, OpenAI asks:

Is your business an agency?

If you select:

Yes, I act on behalf of other organizations & clients

The system displays a warning that says you cannot create an advertiser account for a client. The client needs to create their own account first and then add your team.

That means, at least right now, agencies should not expect the ChatGPT Ads Manager onboarding process to work like Google Ads manager accounts, Meta Business Manager, Microsoft Advertising manager accounts, or many traditional ad platforms where an agency can create or structure client accounts directly.

For agencies, this changes the onboarding workflow.

Instead of:

Agency creates advertiser account → agency adds billing → agency launches campaign

The likely workflow is:

Client creates advertiser account → client verifies business → client adds agency/team → agency builds and manages campaigns

That is not necessarily a bad thing from a security and verification standpoint, but it is a major process change. It means agencies need to prepare clients before signup, especially if the client is not used to managing ad platform access, business verification, billing, and user permissions.

The Other Catch: Immediate Business Verification and EIN Requirements

The second practical issue is verification.

In the signup flow shown in the screenshot, OpenAI requires advertisers to verify their business before they can begin running campaigns. The page states that verification is handled securely through Persona, and that OpenAI shares certain account information with Persona to perform sanctions checks and determine whether the business is eligible to advertise with ChatGPT.

In our observed flow, the system required an EIN for verification.

That matters because not every advertiser has a clean, easily accessible EIN structure ready to go. Some small businesses operate as sole proprietors. Some new startups may be in the middle of entity formation. Some franchise, DBA, contractor, or local service businesses may have mismatches between their legal business name, public-facing brand name, and tax records.

Advertisers should prepare the following before trying to create a ChatGPT advertiser account:

• Legal business name
• EIN
• Business address
• Business website
• Billing information
• Authorized person who can complete verification
• Agency contact or team member emails, if an agency will manage the campaigns after setup

The main thing: do not treat ChatGPT Ads Manager signup like a casual beta form. Treat it more like opening a verified advertising account.

How to Sign Up for ChatGPT Ads Manager

Advertisers interested in testing ChatGPT ads can start the signup process through OpenAI’s Ads Manager portal. Before beginning, it is worth getting your business information organized because the account setup process includes business verification before campaigns can begin running.

1. Visit the ChatGPT Ads Manager signup page: Go to https://ads.openai.com/ to begin the advertiser account setup process.
2. Decide who should create the account: If you are an agency managing ads for a client, do not assume you can create the advertiser account on the client’s behalf. In the current signup flow, the client needs to create their own advertiser account first and then add the agency or team members later.
3. Gather business verification information: OpenAI requires advertisers to verify their business before they can start running ads. Based on the current flow we reviewed, advertisers should have their legal business name, EIN, business address, website, and authorized contact information ready before starting.
4. Prepare billing and admin details: Make sure the person creating the account has access to the correct billing information and can act as an administrator for the advertiser account.
5. Complete the verification process: OpenAI’s verification flow is handled through Persona. The verification step is used to review business eligibility and must be completed before the advertiser can begin running ChatGPT ad campaigns.
6. Add your agency or internal team members: After the advertiser account is created and verified, add the people who will manage campaign setup, creative, budgets, bidding, reporting, and optimization.
7. Prepare your first campaign test: Before launching, decide what offer, landing page, conversion action, budget, and bidding model you want to test. ChatGPT ads are still new, so early campaigns should be treated as structured tests rather than full-budget replacements for existing Google Ads, Meta Ads, or Microsoft Advertising campaigns.
8. Set up measurement before spending: If you plan to use OpenAI’s pixel-based measurement or Conversions API, define your key conversion actions first, such as lead form submissions, booked calls, purchases, demos, quote requests, or account signups.
9. Get Expert Help: To ensure your ChatGPT ads are successful, hire an expert qualified paid advertising agency like us to help build, manage, and run ads on this brand new platform and most importantly to get results. CONTACT US FOR A QUOTE

The most important thing is to treat ChatGPT Ads Manager signup like a verified advertising account setup, not a simple newsletter signup or beta waitlist. Agencies should especially prepare clients ahead of time so account ownership, EIN verification, billing, and team access do not slow down the launch process.

Why CPC Bidding Is the Most Important Part of This Announcement

OpenAI initially allowed ChatGPT ads to be purchased on a CPM basis. That means advertisers paid based on impressions. Now OpenAI is adding CPC bidding, meaning advertisers can pay based on clicks.

That is a big shift.

CPM buying makes sense when a platform is trying to understand inventory, demand, and ad delivery. CPC buying is more familiar to performance advertisers because it aligns spend with a measurable user action.

OpenAI specifically frames CPC as useful because many ChatGPT conversations are active and decision-oriented. In other words, people are often not passively scrolling. They may be comparing vendors, researching categories, asking what to buy, evaluating options, or deciding what action to take next.

That is the real promise of ChatGPT ads.

A traditional search query might be:

best crm for small business

A ChatGPT-style commercial conversation might be:

I run a 12-person home services company and need a CRM that can handle inbound leads, follow-ups, estimates, and reminders. What should I use?

Those are not the same thing.

The second query contains business type, size, use case, pain points, and likely intent. If OpenAI can match ads without violating privacy or degrading the answer experience, ChatGPT ads could become one of the most valuable paid media environments for certain categories.

What Advertisers Should Test First

Do not start with your entire paid media budget.

Start with the campaigns where ChatGPT’s conversational intent is most likely to matter.

Good early test categories may include:

• Software comparisons
• Local service lead generation
• Professional services
• Education and training
• B2B SaaS
• Ecommerce products with research-heavy purchase journeys
• Financial services where users compare options
• Healthcare-adjacent informational journeys, where allowed by policy
• Home services
• Travel planning
• Real estate research
• Legal service research, if permitted by policy

The best early campaigns are probably not “buy now” impulse campaigns. They are likely campaigns where the user needs help deciding.

That is where ChatGPT is different from Google Search, Meta, TikTok, YouTube, or display advertising.

The user may not be searching with a keyword. They may be expressing a problem.

How ChatGPT Ads May Differ From Google Ads

The lazy take is that ChatGPT ads are “Google Ads for AI.”

That is probably wrong.

Google Ads is built around keywords, audiences, placements, shopping feeds, search terms, landing pages, and auction mechanics that have been refined for decades.

ChatGPT ads are being built inside a conversational assistant. That means the ad opportunity may be tied less to exact-match keywords and more to intent, context, category, user task, and the stage of the decision journey.

In Google, an advertiser often targets:

emergency plumber dallas

In ChatGPT, the commercial opportunity may come from a user saying:

My water heater is leaking and I’m in Dallas. What should I do first, and who should I call?

That is a different advertising environment.

The key question is not just “what keyword did the user type?” The better question is:

What task is the user trying to complete?

That makes ChatGPT ads closer to task-based advertising than traditional search advertising.

Recommended Setup Checklist Before Creating an Account

Before advertisers create a ChatGPT Ads Manager account, they should have the following ready:

1. Confirm who owns the advertiser account.

If an agency is involved, the client likely needs to create the advertiser account first.

2. Prepare business verification information.

The current flow requires business verification before running ads. Based on the observed signup process, advertisers should have their EIN ready.

3. Decide who controls billing.

If the client owns the account, the client may also need to control billing or formally grant access to the agency.

4. Prepare initial campaign assets.

OpenAI says Ads Manager supports uploading ads, setting budgets, bids, pacing, and launching campaigns.

5. Prepare landing pages.

Do not send ChatGPT ad traffic to generic homepages. Send users to pages that answer the exact problem, comparison, or decision they are likely working through.

6. Install measurement carefully.

If using pixel-based measurement or Conversions API, define meaningful conversions before launch: purchases, leads, booked calls, account signups, quote requests, downloads, or other actual business outcomes.

7. Start with a limited test.

This is a new ad environment. Budget like you are buying learning, not just traffic.

What Agencies Should Tell Clients

Agencies should get ahead of the onboarding issue.

A simple client note might say:

OpenAI has launched a beta self-serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT ads. At this time, the signup flow does not appear to allow agencies to create advertiser accounts directly on behalf of clients. You will likely need to create and verify the advertiser account using your business information first, then add our team so we can help build and manage campaigns.

That avoids confusion and prevents a client from thinking the agency is unprepared when the platform blocks agency-led account creation.

Agencies should also prepare a short verification checklist:

• Legal business name
• EIN
• Business address
• Website
• Billing contact
• Admin user email
• Agency user emails to invite after setup

This is the kind of small operational issue that can delay a campaign launch by days or weeks if nobody prepares for it.

What We Still Do Not Know

OpenAI’s announcement gives us the big direction, but many tactical details are still unclear.

Advertisers should watch for answers to these questions:

• What ad formats will be available?
• Where exactly will ads appear in ChatGPT?
• How will ad relevance be calculated?
• Will advertisers get query-level or topic-level reporting?
• Will negative keywords or exclusions exist?
• Will advertisers be able to target by geography, device, category, audience, or intent?
• How will OpenAI handle sensitive categories?
• How strict will landing page quality requirements be?
• Will agencies eventually get manager-account functionality?
• How will billing and permissions work for multi-client advertisers?
• Will OpenAI support offline conversion imports?
• Will advertisers be able to separate branded and non-branded demand?
• Will ChatGPT ads influence organic answers? OpenAI says no, but advertisers will still want transparent reporting and policy documentation.
• How will OpenAI prevent low-quality lead gen spam from entering the ecosystem?

These are not minor details. These are the details that determine whether ChatGPT Ads Manager becomes a serious performance channel or just an experimental budget line.

Strategic Takeaways for Advertisers

1. ChatGPT ads should be treated as a new intent channel

This is not simply another display network. The value of ChatGPT ads will likely come from matching ads to users who are actively trying to solve a problem, compare options, or complete a task.

2. The best campaigns will probably map to user problems, not just keywords

Advertisers should think in terms of prompts, tasks, questions, and decision journeys.

Instead of only asking:

What keywords do we want?

Ask:

What problem is the user trying to solve when our business is the right answer?

3. Agencies need a new onboarding process

The current flow tells agencies they cannot create advertiser accounts for clients. That means client-owned account setup, verification, and access delegation need to become part of the agency’s ChatGPT ads onboarding process.

4. EIN verification may slow down small business adoption

This requirement may help reduce spam and low-quality advertisers, but it also creates friction. Agencies and SMB advertisers should prepare verification documents before starting.

5. Measurement needs to be configured before spending real money

OpenAI has announced pixel-based measurement and Conversions API. Advertisers should not run serious campaigns without defining conversions and testing whether tracking works properly.

6. Landing pages need to match conversational intent

A ChatGPT user may arrive with a more detailed problem than a traditional search user. Thin pages, generic service pages, and vague product pages may underperform. Strong landing pages should answer questions, compare options, explain tradeoffs, and provide clear next steps.

Practical Recommendations

For businesses considering ChatGPT ads, I would recommend the following launch approach:

First, create a small test budget.

Do not move major spend away from Google, Meta, Microsoft, or existing high-performing campaigns until ChatGPT ads prove they can drive qualified traffic and conversions.

Second, choose one high-intent offer.

Start with a campaign where the user’s problem is obvious and the landing page can answer that problem directly.

Third, build landing pages around decision support.

ChatGPT users may be asking for help choosing, comparing, validating, or planning. Give them pages that help them make the decision.

Fourth, track real outcomes.

Clicks are useful, but they are not the final goal. Track leads, purchases, booked calls, demos, quote requests, or other revenue-linked actions.

Fifth, document everything.

Because this is a beta environment, advertisers should document account setup issues, verification delays, campaign settings, ad approvals, reporting gaps, and performance patterns.

What PPC and Ad Experts Are Saying

And GiddyUp!!!! pic.twitter.com/T03Nbz9ECJ

— Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) May 6, 2026

We got 3 good leads from chat gpt ads in the first 6 hours today. We have been spending upwards of $10 K on Google ads for the last 3 months and havent gotten a lead. On another account, social is WAYYYYYY outperforming Google PPC. I dont what the fuck is going on, but its def a…

— Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) May 6, 2026

Final Thoughts

OpenAI’s self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager is an important development for advertisers, but it is still early.

The promise is obvious: ChatGPT has millions of users asking detailed, high-intent, decision-oriented questions. If ads can be matched to those moments without corrupting the answer experience or violating user privacy, this could become a very powerful advertising channel.

But the current system also has real friction.

Agencies cannot currently create advertiser accounts directly for clients in the observed signup flow. Business verification is immediate. EIN verification may be required. Reporting, targeting, ad formats, and account management features still need to mature.

That means advertisers should treat ChatGPT ads as an early but serious test.

Not a gimmick.

Not a replacement for Google Ads.

Not something to ignore.

The right move is to prepare now, test carefully, measure honestly, and build campaigns around the thing that makes ChatGPT different: people are not just searching for pages. They are trying to complete tasks.