ChatGPT is not another ad channel and marketers need a new playbook

Vijay Chander.

Vijay Chander, search and tech director, Connected Media.  

OpenAI’s decision to introduce advertising into ChatGPT’s free tier and its new ChatGPT Go plan marks an important moment for marketers. After much speculation about how AI agents would pay their way, the commercialisation phase has begun, with OpenAI testing contextually triggered ‘sponsored citations’ in the US initially.

For marketers and brands, this is more than a new ad product. It is the opening move in a fundamental shift in how people discover, evaluate and choose products and services. And the biggest mistake brands can make right now is assuming ChatGPT is simply another Google-style performance channel in a different wrapper.

It isn’t, and treating it as such will almost certainly lead to disappointment.

Not search. Not social. 
Search advertising is built on intent capture. A user types a query, the system matches it to keywords, and advertisers compete for attention through bidding and relevance signals. It is transactional, fast and largely product-led.

ChatGPT operates in a completely different way. It’s conversational, exploratory and contextual. Users are not skimming lists of links, they’re thinking things through, often across multiple turns of a conversation, trying to solve a problem or reach a decision.

Ask Google for ‘best SUVs’ and you are served a results page of links, reviews and ads. Ask ChatGPT the same question and you are more likely to receive a synthesised response that weighs factors like safety, fuel efficiency, family needs and budget, before suggesting a shortlist with reasons attached.

That distinction matters. In this environment, relevance is not driven by who shouts the loudest or bids the highest, it’s driven by depth of understanding and usefulness. The brands that succeed will not simply be the most aggressive advertisers, but those whose information is most useful, intelligible and trustworthy so that  the AI can logically trust and recommend.

This is a key differentiator between AI agents and the search ecosystem. Of course keywords, backlinks and brute-force media still matter, but in an AI-driven environment, clarity, granularity and authority have become the primary signals. AI agents need to understand not just what a product is, but what it is for, who it suits and under what conditions it is the right answer.

Why this is good news, with a warning attached
From a broader industry perspective, OpenAI’s move is a positive development. Search has operated as a near-monopoly for years, and diversification of advertising channels is always welcomed. As more people use AI tools as their primary interface for information and decision-making, brands need to meet them there.

But Google will not sit still. It has already begun integrating ads into its own AI-driven experiences and has the advantage of massive scale, entrenched advertiser relationships and a unified search and commerce ecosystem.

The competitive response will be swift. Just days after Open AI’s announcement, Adweek reports that Google is already telling advertisers in the US that ads will be rolled to its AI chatbot Gemini, while it has had ads in AI mode for some time.  

ChatGPT ads should not be viewed as a replacement for search, but as a distinct layer in a broader digital marketing ecosystem. As a first step, brands need to ensure they are GEO ready with a trusted and positive online presence.

Brands that ensure their products, services and content are clearly structured and intelligible to AI systems now, will be better placed not only for initial discovery by users, but for when paid placements become more competitive later.