ChatGPT ads in India: worth a try?

On 27 August, OpenAI started showing ads in ChatGPT in India, its second-largest market after the US, with more than 100 million weekly users. OpenAI said more than 50 brands, working through the agency groups WPP and Omnicom, would run the first campaigns. It says any business will be able to sign up to ChatGPT's Ads Manager from 4 September and run its own campaigns, with daily budgets starting at ₹725.

In January we wrote that AI ads would reach this region eventually. For India, eventually turned out to be seven months. The UAE has no date yet.

How the ads work

The ads appear below ChatGPT's answer, labelled as sponsored and visually separate from it. They are shown to logged-in adults on the Free plan and on Go, the ₹399 a month plan. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education users do not see them.

OpenAI says the ads do not change what ChatGPT says in its answer. Ads are matched to what the conversation is about, rather than to keywords typed into a search box. Advertisers do not see users' chats or personal details, only totals such as impressions and clicks. Ads are not shown to users under 18, or next to conversations about health, mental health or politics.

That last group matters if you work in those fields. A clinic, a wellness brand or a political campaign should not plan on this channel.

Who it might suit

The format favours businesses whose customers do their research by asking questions. Someone asking ChatGPT to compare two laptops, plan a trip to Munnar, choose a coding course or find accounting software for a small shop is in the middle of a decision. An ad that sits right under a useful answer, for a product that fits, could reach them at a good moment.

Categories where we would expect early tests to be worth running:

• Education and courses, especially professional and technical ones.
• Travel and stays.
• Consumer electronics and considered purchases.
• Software and services for small businesses.
• Home services in cities, where people ask for recommendations.

What nobody knows yet

This is a new ad platform, and a lot is still unknown. How much a click will cost, how well clicks convert, how detailed the targeting is and how reliable the reporting will be all remain to be seen. Google Ads and Meta have had well over a decade to build their tools. ChatGPT's have existed for a few months in the US and are brand new in India.

Expect early prices to move around, and expect the reporting to be simpler than you are used to. So test small.

How to run a useful test

1. Pick one product or service with a clear, high-value action: a booking, a lead form, a purchase.
2. Build a landing page for it that answers the questions people would have asked ChatGPT. Do not send them to your home page.
3. Tag every link so your analytics shows exactly which visits and conversions came from ChatGPT ads.
4. Set a fixed budget for a month. The minimum daily budget is small enough that a modest test is possible.
5. Compare the cost per lead or per sale with your Google Search and Meta campaigns for the same product.
6. Read the actual leads as well as the numbers. Are they better informed, more ready to buy, or just curious?

Ads are not the same as being recommended

There is a trap here worth naming. An ad below the answer is not the answer. If ChatGPT recommends three competitors in its reply and your ad appears underneath, you have paid to be the fourth option.

Being named in the answer itself still depends on what it always did: clear information on your own site, a complete Google Business Profile, good reviews and a reputation that appears in places other than your own website. Ads can add reach. They do not replace that work.

Test it with your own numbers before you put serious money in. A month or two of data should show whether it works for your category, and if it does not, you will have spent very little to find out.