If you run a DTC brand and you've been watching the news about ChatGPT rolling out ads, you're probably wondering what this means for you. I've been wondering the same thing.

OpenAI has begun testing advertising within ChatGPT. Early reports suggest the program is currently limited to select enterprise partners and major agencies, with pricing structured at premium CPM levels. For most DTC brands spending five or six figures a month on Meta and Google, this channel is not accessible yet.

But "yet" is the key word.

OpenAI has already signaled that a self-serve ad platform is on the roadmap. That timeline could move faster if early results are strong, and early signals suggest they are. When big-name advertisers start reporting positive results from new placements, platforms tend to accelerate their roadmaps.

So the real question for DTC brands right now is: "what should I be doing today so that when self-serve opens, I'm ready to move fast?"

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about this. We wrote about the broader shift in how marketing agencies must evolve to advertise on AI platforms, and a lot of those ideas apply here. But I want to get more specific about what brands can actually do right now, today, to prepare.

Understand How ChatGPT Ads Actually Work

Before you prepare for anything, you need to understand what you're preparing for. ChatGPT ads work differently from every other ad platform DTC brands currently use.

On Meta, you're interrupting someone who is scrolling through content they didn't ask for. On Google, you're catching someone mid-search with a clear purchase intent. On ChatGPT, the user is having a conversation. They're asking questions, getting recommendations, working through problems. The ad shows up below the AI's response, clearly labeled, and OpenAI has stated that ads are clearly labeled and do not influence the AI's responses. They call this "Answer Independence."

That distinction matters. On Meta, creative is the targeting mechanism. On Google, keywords are the targeting mechanism. On ChatGPT, the conversation itself is the targeting mechanism. The AI understands what the user is asking about, and the ad placement is contextual to that conversation.

Here's what this means practically: the quality of your product information, the way your brand shows up in conversational contexts, and the clarity of your value proposition all become more important than they've ever been. You can't brute-force your way into a conversation the way you can buy your way onto a search results page.

Right now, ads only appear for users on ChatGPT's free and Go tiers. Plus, Team, and Enterprise subscribers see no ads. OpenAI has also excluded sensitive categories like politics, health, and mental health from ad placements. A smaller percentage of AI queries are explicitly commercial compared to traditional search engines, so the addressable surface is narrower. But those queries that are commercial tend to show strong research intent, which could make the traffic quite valuable.

Make Your Brand Easy for AI Systems to Understand and Reference

This is the single most important thing you can do right now, and most brands are not doing it.

When someone asks ChatGPT "what's the best protein powder for endurance athletes" or "what DTC skincare brands are worth trying," the AI draws on a mix of its training data and live web results to form an answer. If your brand isn't well-represented in the kinds of sources AI models are likely to reference, your odds of showing up in those answers drop significantly. And if you're not in the answers, any ad placement you eventually buy will feel disconnected from the conversation.

We've been investing heavily in what's sometimes called Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO. The concept is simple: make your brand's information easy for AI models to find, understand, and recommend. I wrote about our approach to this in more detail on our blog, but here's the tactical version.

Get listed on industry directories and review sites that AI models are more likely to reference when generating recommendations. We've seen real results from platforms like 1-800-DTC, and category-specific listing sites. The investment is relatively small and the compounding effect is real. Brands that establish a presence in these sources early tend to benefit as AI systems continue to pull from them.

I think these things have snowball effects. The brands that show up in LLM recommendations today are building an advantage that gets harder for competitors to replicate over time. As AI-generated recommendations become more common, competition for inclusion in those recommendations will likely increase. Being in that short list matters more than broad organic visibility ever did.

Build FAQ content on every page of your site. AI models love structured question-and-answer content because it maps directly to how users interact with them. When someone asks ChatGPT a question about your product category, FAQ content gives the AI a clean, quotable answer to reference. This is basic GEO hygiene that most ecommerce brands are ignoring.

Invest in structured data and schema markup on your product pages. Rich product data (ingredients, specifications, comparisons, pricing, reviews) makes it easier for AI models to parse and recommend your products accurately. If the AI can't reliably extract what your product does and who it's for, it won't recommend it with confidence.

Build a Conversational Content Strategy

Traditional DTC content strategy is built around search queries and social feeds. You write blog posts targeting keywords. You create social content that stops the scroll. The content formats are well understood, and most brands have some version of this playbook running.

AI platforms need a different kind of content. When someone interacts with ChatGPT, they're asking questions in natural language. "What's the best budget-friendly way to upgrade my morning coffee routine?" or "I have sensitive skin and live in a dry climate, what moisturizer should I use?" These aren't keyword queries. They're conversations.

The brands that will perform best on AI platforms are the ones producing content that directly answers these kinds of questions, with enough depth and specificity that an AI model would feel confident referencing it.

Here's what I'd start building right now:

Comparison and "best of" content that positions your product fairly within a category. AI models frequently synthesize these pages when forming recommendations. A page titled "How Our Pour-Over Kit Compares to Chemex and Hario" gives the AI specific, structured information it can work with.

Problem-solution content that maps to real customer questions. Look at your customer service inbox, your product reviews, your post-purchase surveys. The questions real customers ask are the same questions people are asking ChatGPT. Build content that answers those questions comprehensively.

Expert and founder-led content that establishes authority. AI models weight authoritative sources more heavily. Original perspectives, proprietary data, and genuine expertise create content that AI models are more likely to surface than generic category overviews.

Here's what this looks like in practice. Say you sell a hydration product and you build an FAQ page titled "Best Electrolytes for Marathon Training" with structured data, comparison charts against competitors, and citations from sports nutrition research. Over time, that page starts surfacing in AI responses to long-tail endurance queries. When a runner asks ChatGPT what electrolyte mix to use for their first marathon, your brand is already in the conversation before you've spent a dollar on ads. That's the kind of content investment that pays off across every AI platform, not just ChatGPT.

At Y'all, we've been working on this exact problem for our clients. We run a boutique DTC performance marketing agency, and the shift toward AI-driven discovery is something we're actively building strategies around. If your brand wants a DTC agency that understands ChatGPT ads and how to run ads on AI platforms, we're thinking about these problems every day.

Rethink How You Measure New Channels

One of the things I talk about constantly is that reporting a single ROAS number is meaningless without context. That principle is going to matter even more when brands start running ads on LLMs.

ChatGPT ads sit in a fundamentally different part of the customer journey than Meta or Google ads. Someone asking an AI assistant for product recommendations is in a research and consideration phase. They might not buy immediately. They might take that recommendation and Google it. They might see your Meta ad two days later and convert there. The attribution for that conversion will probably show up as a Google or Meta win, even though the AI recommendation was the actual catalyst.

If you measure ChatGPT ads the same way you measure Meta ads, you'll almost certainly undercount their value. This is the same problem brands have been dealing with Meta for years. Meta creates demand in cold audiences and then Google captures it, which makes Google's ROAS look better even though Meta did the heavy lifting. AI platforms will layer another step into that chain.

The brands that get this right will be the ones who already have a multi-touch measurement framework in place. Post-purchase surveys that ask "how did you first hear about us" with AI assistants as an option. Media mix models that account for cross-channel influence. First-party attribution that tracks the full journey rather than just the last click.

Start building that infrastructure now. When ChatGPT self-serve opens and you're trying to figure out how to run ads on ChatGPT efficiently, having clean measurement will be the difference between making smart scaling decisions and flying blind.

Prepare Creative for a Conversational Context

Every ad platform rewards a certain kind of creative. Meta rewards scroll-stopping visuals and emotional hooks. Google rewards relevance and clarity. TikTok rewards native, raw, creator-style content. We've written about why creative is the real targeting mechanism on Meta specifically, and that principle extends to new platforms in interesting ways.

ChatGPT ads appear below the AI's response. The user has just received a thoughtful, conversational answer to their question. Your ad needs to feel like a natural extension of that conversation, not an interruption.

Think about what that means for creative development. Early formats appear closer to sponsored recommendations than traditional display or video units, which may require a more informational creative approach than what most DTC brands are used to running.

From what we've seen in the early placements, the ads that perform tend to be clean, informational, and directly relevant to the conversation topic. Product-focused creative with clear value propositions and minimal friction. The creative strategy for AI platforms will likely reward the same qualities that good editorial content rewards: clarity, honesty, and genuine relevance to what the reader cares about.

Start testing creative that works in informational contexts. Advertorial-style landing pages. Product comparison content. Clear, honest messaging that respects the reader's intelligence. The brands that have been building this kind of creative already, even for Meta and Google, will have a head start when AI ad platforms open up.

Start Small With Your AI Platform Budget

When self-serve does open, the temptation will be to throw budget at it immediately. I've seen this happen with every new platform launch. Brands rush in, overspend on learning, and then pull back when early results don't match their Meta benchmarks.

The smarter play is to plan your budget now. Decide what percentage of your total ad spend you're willing to allocate to testing a new channel. For most DTC brands, something in the 5-10% range makes sense for initial testing. That's enough to generate real data without putting your core performance channels at risk.

Given early reports of premium CPM pricing, ChatGPT ads will likely be significantly more expensive than Meta (where many DTC brands see CPMs in the $15-30 range) and comparable to or higher than premium Google placements. The math only works if the quality of the traffic justifies the premium. Based on early signals, the conversion potential from AI-assisted product discovery could be strong, but no one knows yet. We're all going to be learning together.

The brands that treat AI advertising as a learning investment rather than an immediate performance channel will come out ahead. Every dollar spent produces information about how your customers interact with AI-driven discovery. That information compounds over time.

That's how we think about all advertising at Y'all. Revenue is the output, but learning is the engine. The brands that approach new channels with curiosity and discipline, rather than panic or hype, are the ones that figure it out fastest. You can see some examples of how this plays out in our case studies.

The Bigger Picture: AI Is Changing How People Find Brands

ChatGPT ads are one piece of a much larger shift. People are increasingly using AI assistants for product discovery, recommendations, and purchase research. This trend is not going to reverse. Every major tech company is building AI into their search and discovery products. Google has AI Overviews. Amazon is integrating AI into product recommendations. Apple is building AI into Safari and Siri.

For DTC brands, this means the way customers find you is fragmenting further. It used to be Google and Facebook. Then it was Google, Facebook, and TikTok. Now you need to think about how your brand shows up when someone asks an AI for advice in your category.

The brands that start building for this shift now, even before self-serve ChatGPT ads exist, will have a structural advantage. They'll have the content, the structured data, the measurement infrastructure, and the creative approach ready to go. Everyone else will be scrambling to catch up.

I don't pretend to know exactly how this is all going to shake out. Nobody does. But I know that the preparation work I've outlined here, building GEO-optimized content, structuring your product data, developing conversational creative, and setting up proper measurement, is valuable regardless of what specific form AI advertising takes. These are good practices for any brand that wants to be discoverable in an AI-driven world.

Risks to Watch

I want to be honest about the unknowns here, because there are a lot of them. Platform access could shift without warning. OpenAI might change ad formats, targeting parameters, or pricing structures as they learn from early results. Attribution for AI-assisted conversions is going to be murky for a while, and there's no established playbook for measuring it yet. If demand for ChatGPT ad inventory spikes when self-serve opens, CPMs could inflate quickly before settling. And the broader regulatory environment around AI advertising is still developing. None of this should stop you from preparing, but go in with your eyes open and treat early spend as a learning budget, not a performance expectation.

FAQ

How do I run ads on ChatGPT right now?

As of early 2026, ChatGPT ads are only available through enterprise partnerships with select major agencies. Early reports suggest premium pricing with high minimum spends. A self-serve platform has been signaled but no firm launch date has been confirmed. For now, DTC brands should focus on preparation rather than direct ad buying.

What is the best agency for ads on ChatGPT?

There is no "best agency for ads on ChatGPT" yet because the platform is still in closed testing. The best agency for LLM ads will be one that understands both traditional performance marketing and the emerging GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) space. At Y'all, we've been investing in GEO strategy for our clients and actively tracking how AI platforms will change DTC advertising.

What is GEO and why does it matter for ChatGPT ads?

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization. It's the practice of making your brand's content easy for AI models to find, understand, and recommend. When someone asks ChatGPT for a product recommendation, the AI references its training data and live web sources. GEO increases the likelihood that your brand is included in AI-generated responses. Strong GEO means your brand is more likely to get mentioned when users ask relevant questions, which makes any future ad placement more effective.

How much will ChatGPT ads cost for DTC brands?

Early reports suggest premium CPM pricing, significantly higher than typical Meta CPMs ($15-30 for most DTC brands) and comparable to or above premium Google placements. When self-serve opens, pricing will likely adjust based on demand and competition. Budget 5-10% of your total ad spend for initial testing on any new channel, including AI platforms.

How should I measure ChatGPT ad performance?

Standard last-click attribution will almost certainly undercount the value of AI platform ads. Someone might discover your brand through a ChatGPT recommendation and then convert through a Google search or Meta retargeting ad. Use post-purchase surveys with AI assistant options, media mix models, and first-party attribution that tracks the full customer journey rather than just the last touch.

What kind of creative works best on AI platforms?

Early ChatGPT ad placements appear below the AI's conversational response, so creative that feels informational and relevant to the conversation topic performs better than traditional interruptive formats. Clean product imagery, clear value propositions, and advertorial-style landing pages are a good starting point. The creative approach is closer to content marketing than to typical paid social.

Can small DTC brands compete on ChatGPT ads?

When self-serve launches, smaller brands will have access, but premium CPM pricing means you need strong unit economics to make the math work. The bigger opportunity for smaller brands right now is GEO: making sure your brand shows up in AI-generated recommendations organically. That organic presence is free and compounds over time, and it's something you can start building today regardless of your ad budget.

How is running ads on AI platforms different from Meta or Google?

On Meta, creative is the targeting mechanism because the algorithm decides who sees your ad based on predicted engagement. On Google, keywords and intent drive targeting. On AI platforms, the conversation is the targeting mechanism. The AI understands what the user is discussing and places contextually relevant ads. This means your brand's information quality, product data, and content depth matter as much as your ad creative.

If you're a DTC brand thinking about how to prepare for advertising on ChatGPT and AI platforms, I'd love to talk through what we're seeing and what might make sense for your specific situation. Reach out!

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