Published on: August 28, 2026
OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Ads in India, introducing a new advertising opportunity built around conversational interactions as the company expands its commercial offering in one of ChatGPT’s fastest-growing markets.
The advertising rollout will initially be available to logged-in adults using ChatGPT’s Free and Go plans. Users on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans will continue to experience ChatGPT without advertisements.
WPP and Omnicom have been selected as OpenAI’s first agency partners for the Indian market. More than 50 brands are expected to participate in the initial advertising rollout, although OpenAI has not yet disclosed the names of the brands involved.
The company is also expanding access to its self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager in India. From September 4, advertisers outside the initial agency-led group will be able to set up and manage campaigns directly through the platform.
According to OpenAI’s advertising documentation, the minimum daily campaign spend in India is Rs 725. Advertisers can currently run campaigns using either cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) or cost-per-click (CPC) buying models.
Unlike conventional digital advertising, where campaigns are often targeted using keywords, audiences or content placements, ChatGPT Ads are designed to surface when users are actively discussing a topic, evaluating products or services, or seeking help with a decision.
Sponsored placements can appear beneath a ChatGPT response and will be clearly identified as advertisements, with a visual separation from the AI-generated answer.
The advertising system can evaluate factors such as the context and intent of a current conversation, an advertiser’s landing page, headline and creative copy, as well as optional “context hints” supplied by advertisers.
Context hints allow businesses to indicate the types of conversations, subjects or keywords where their products or services could be relevant. However, OpenAI clarifies that these hints do not function as exact-match keywords and do not guarantee placement against a particular conversation.
Where advertising personalisation is enabled, selected signals from a user’s wider ChatGPT experience may also be considered.
The advertising launch comes as ChatGPT adoption continues to expand across India.
OpenAI said in February that India had surpassed 100 million weekly ChatGPT users, including students, educators, developers and entrepreneurs. The company has since reported that its weekly active users in the country have doubled year over year.
Dave Dugan, Vice President and Head of Global Ads Solutions at OpenAI, said: “India is one of the most dynamic markets in the world for how people use ChatGPT to learn, build, and discover. Our weekly active users have doubled year-on-year, with many of them going beyond simple searches and changing how they make decisions. They ask questions, explore options, and weigh tradeoffs through conversation,”
“With ChatGPT Ads, businesses can introduce themselves at relevant, high-context moments when decisions are beginning to take shape,” he added.
The company is positioning conversational context as a key differentiator for its advertising offering. For example, a consumer planning a holiday could discuss destinations, budgets, travel dates and accommodation preferences over multiple messages, providing a much richer picture of purchase intent than a single search query.
WPP and Omnicom will be the first major agency groups to work with OpenAI on ChatGPT Ads in India.
Their involvement will draw on capabilities spanning media strategy, creative, measurement, brand safety and campaign execution, alongside their existing relationships with advertisers. OpenAI has indicated that more agencies will be added to the programme over time.
Both agency groups are already involved in OpenAI’s global advertising efforts. Internationally, OpenAI has partnered with Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP, alongside advertising technology and measurement companies including Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt.
The expansion of Ads Manager in India will allow businesses to move beyond agency-led access. Advertisers will be able to create accounts, configure payments, establish budgets and bids, upload advertising assets, launch campaigns and track performance.
The platform currently offers two primary campaign objectives. Reach campaigns are designed to maximise impressions and operate on a CPM model, while Clicks campaigns are optimised for valid clicks and use CPC pricing. Maximum CPM or CPC bids are set at the ad-group level.
OpenAI has emphasised that advertising will not determine or influence the answers generated by ChatGPT.
The company states that advertisements and ChatGPT responses operate through separate systems, with sponsored content clearly distinguished from organic AI responses. Advertisers will also not receive access to individual conversations, chat histories, memories or personal information.
Instead, advertisers receive aggregated campaign metrics, including information such as impressions and clicks. OpenAI also states that it does not sell users’ data to advertisers.
Advertising is restricted for users identified as being under 18 and is not permitted in sensitive contexts, including discussions involving personal health, mental health, political topics and other vulnerable or high-risk areas.
Users can control advertising personalisation, while Free-tier users can also choose an ad-free experience in exchange for reduced usage limits.
OpenAI first began testing advertisements in ChatGPT in the US in February 2026. The programme subsequently expanded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea, followed by a broader rollout across European markets.
The company has also continued developing its advertising infrastructure. In May, OpenAI introduced a beta version of its self-serve Ads Manager, added CPC bidding alongside CPM and expanded campaign measurement capabilities.
With India now part of the rollout, ChatGPT Ads will be tested in a large and highly competitive digital advertising ecosystem where marketers have traditionally relied heavily on search for intent-based advertising and social platforms for audience targeting.
OpenAI’s proposition introduces another approach: reaching consumers during conversational moments when they are explaining their needs, comparing alternatives and actively considering purchase decisions.
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