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OpenAI has publicly named Best Buy, Lowe’s and VistaPrint as early advertisers on ChatGPT. Independent monitoring has observed many more brands, including Samsung, Apple, Dove and Lenovo—but those sightings are not an official OpenAI advertiser roster. As of August 16, 2026, the distinction matters: a brand mentioned in an answer is not necessarily buying an ad, and a third-party tracker cannot establish a company’s total campaign activity.
Last checked: August 16, 2026. OpenAI does not appear to publish a complete public list of every advertiser. The names below are separated by the strength of the available evidence.
Advertisers OpenAI has named
OpenAI’s advertising page identifies these three as early ChatGPT advertisers:
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- Lowe’s
- VistaPrint
OpenAI includes a comment from a Best Buy media executive about early results. It does not publish campaign spend, impressions, conversion rates, CPC or CPM for these advertisers, nor a detailed case-study methodology. The page therefore confirms their participation, not a performance benchmark.
#1 Best Overall
Other brands seen in independent tracking
Writesonic’s AI Ads Index, in a snapshot updated August 16, 2026, reported these frequently observed brands:
- Consumer electronics and appliances: Samsung, Apple, Lenovo, Asus, Philips, LG, Bosch, Xiaomi (mi.com) and HP.
- Beauty and personal care: Dove, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, Minimalist and The Derma Co.
- Pet care: Royal Canin.
These are brands observed in Writesonic’s monitored sample, not brands OpenAI has publicly confirmed. The index samples AI answers; it is not a complete registry of OpenAI campaigns. It cannot establish how much a brand spent, whether it bought directly or through an agency or partner, whether every observed placement came from OpenAI inventory, or whether a campaign remains active. Nor does an appearance prove the brand approved every creative attributed to it.
Writesonic’s latest displayed snapshot counted 103,654 sampled answers, 15,893 of which it classified as carrying an ad—about 15.33% of that sample—and reported 4,081 advertisers. Those figures describe the tracker’s sample, not ChatGPT’s official ad-fill rate or platform-wide advertiser count. The same page also displays “0.00%” near its daily summary, an inconsistency with the detailed snapshot. Treat its percentages and counts as third-party estimates, not audited platform totals. Its market breakdown attributed 89.5% of sampled ads to the United States, followed by Australia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and other markets.
Rank #2
What counts as a ChatGPT ad?
OpenAI describes ads as paid placements shown below the end of a response, labeled “Sponsored” and visually separate from the answer. They are not supposed to be inserted into the model’s prose. OpenAI says an ad does not mean it endorses the advertiser. See its ChatGPT ads help page.
That distinction helps avoid confusing four different things:
- A sponsored ad card: a paid placement labeled as sponsored.
- An organic answer: text generated in response to a prompt. A company mentioned there is not automatically an advertiser.
- A shopping or merchant result: a product result surfaced through shopping-related functionality; its presence alone does not prove it is a sponsored ad.
- A cited web link: a source or link included with an answer, not automatically an ad.
A third-party tracker may classify a placement as an ad based on what it observes, but that classification is not the same as confirmation from OpenAI or the advertiser.
Who may see ads—and where
OpenAI first described testing with logged-in adults in the United States on Free and Go plans. Its current help documentation describes ad controls for Free and Go users in regions where ads are available or soon to be available. Availability is not universal: it depends on rollout, region, plan, age, surface and whether the conversation or advertiser is eligible. OpenAI positions paid tiers as an ad-free option in its advertising approach. During the test described in its help documentation, ads do not appear in the ChatGPT Atlas browser.
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Rank #3
Ads may be absent for users under 18 or near sensitive topics. OpenAI says personalized ads are not initially available in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. Turning off personalization does not necessarily remove ads: the current conversation’s context may still be used to choose a relevant placement. The rollout and controls can change, so check the current availability and ad-control details for your account.
How ads are selected—and what advertisers can see
OpenAI says selection can consider the current conversation’s context and intent, the ad’s copy and landing page, advertiser-provided context hints and targeting choices. If personalization is enabled, selected signals from the broader ChatGPT experience may also be used. When more than one eligible ad is available, relevance and advertiser bids can affect which one appears first. That suggests the commercial context may be a user’s conversational intent, not only a short typed search term; it does not mean advertisers can read the conversation.
OpenAI says advertisers do not receive users’ conversations, memories, chat history or personal details, and that it does not sell user data to advertisers. Advertisers receive aggregated, non-identifying performance information, such as total views or clicks. If a user chooses to message an advertiser through an ad interaction, the advertiser can see the messages sent directly to it. For the policy details, see OpenAI’s help page.
OpenAI also says ads run on systems separate from answer generation: advertisers cannot shape, rank or alter ChatGPT’s response. That is OpenAI’s stated policy; the practical takeaway is that a sponsored card should not be read as the model’s independent recommendation.
What kinds of businesses can advertise?
OpenAI’s ad policy describes an initial focus on consumer areas such as lifestyle and household goods, local services, travel and experiences, digital products, and education. Some financial, healthcare and legal advertisers may be considered manually and case by case. Sensitive and regulated categories face restrictions, and some are prohibited.
Writesonic’s observed-industry categories include business and productivity software, specialty retail, investing and trading, consulting, careers and job search, accounting and tax services, and professional learning. This need not contradict OpenAI’s policy: a tracker’s labels may differ from OpenAI’s, some categories may be approved individually, and observations can span markets, surfaces and points in a changing rollout. The tracker’s list should not be taken to mean every advertiser in those fields is eligible.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How businesses can buy ChatGPT ads
OpenAI’s May 5, 2026 announcement describes three routes: a beta self-serve Ads Manager, agency partners and technology partners. The self-serve manager supports account registration, payment details, budgets, bids, pacing, ad uploads, campaign management and reporting. OpenAI names Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP as agency partners, and Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt as technology partners. Partners can support budgeting, bidding and creative; OpenAI’s system controls ad delivery. Details are in the buying-options announcement.
Best Value
OpenAI says advertisers can buy on CPM (cost per thousand impressions) or CPC (cost per click), and has introduced conversion measurement through a Conversions API and pixel-based tools for post-click actions such as purchases, leads and signups. The official materials reviewed do not provide a public universal rate card, minimum spend or average CPC or CPM. Advertisers should verify current account terms rather than rely on unverified prices circulating online.
For a business evaluating the channel, the practical approach is to treat it as an evolving test: confirm eligibility and access, define a measurable conversion, use the available reporting and conversion tools, and compare results against other channels. A tracker can help identify brands appearing in sampled answers, but it cannot replace campaign reporting or establish total delivery. OpenAI has disclosed little quantified performance information publicly, particularly for Lowe’s and VistaPrint.
What the brand lists do—and do not—prove
Use three different labels when discussing the market: OpenAI-confirmed for brands named by OpenAI, independently observed for brands found in a tracker’s sample, and reported or unverified for names supported only by secondary reports or screenshots. Do not turn observed appearances into claims about spend, active campaigns, unique advertisers, impressions or endorsement.
The reliable short answer is narrow but useful: OpenAI has named Best Buy, Lowe’s and VistaPrint; independent monitoring has recorded a much broader set of brands, but no public OpenAI roster establishes that list as complete.
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