ChatGPT Ads expands to 26 countries as advertiser count tops 100,000

OpenAI said on 2026-10-21 that ChatGPT Ads is expanding into 26 new countries, extending access to more advertisers after more than 100,000 have used the platform. The company framed the rollout as a way for more local businesses and global brands to reach people “as they explore, compare and decide what to buy in ChatGPT,” according to OpenAI on the same date.

Evidence and context

The 2026-10-21 announcement adds to a series of ad-product updates OpenAI has made this year. On 2026-10-05, OpenAI published material on building advertising for AI-based usage and on measuring ChatGPT Ads more effectively, indicating continued development of the product stack around campaign management and performance measurement.

OpenAI’s earlier disclosures help place the expansion in context. The company said on 2026-01-16 that it was planning to test advertising, but explicitly stated that ads were not launching that day. It later said the U.S. advertising pilot began on 2026-02-09 for logged-in adults using ChatGPT Free and Go. On 2026-05-05, OpenAI said it had started a beta rollout of its self-serve Ads Manager, which introduced cost-per-click bidding alongside impression-based buying.

OpenAI has also previously announced geographic expansion steps rather than a single global launch. On 2026-03-26, it said it planned to expand pilots to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. By 2026-08-11, the company said ads had launched in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. On 2026-09-16, OpenAI said it was testing Sponsored Agents, AI campaign-management tools, and integrations with HubSpot and Shopify.

OpenAI says ads in ChatGPT are labeled and separate from the assistant’s answers, do not affect those answers and do not give advertisers access to users’ conversations. The company also says Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts remain ad-free. The announcement did not provide additional country-level details beyond the 26-country expansion or a timetable for the next rollout phase.