ChatGPT ads add 26 countries, reaching 89 in total

ChatGPT Ads adds 26 countries, bringing the total to 89

OpenAI said on October 21, 2026 that ChatGPT Ads is now open in 26 more countries, for a total of 89. The rollout follows earlier launches across Europe, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. OpenAI puts ChatGPT's audience at more than 1.2 billion people a week.

Latin America adds 14 countries, plus Africa, Europe, Asia

The biggest group is in Latin America, where 14 countries join Mexico and Brazil. OpenAI named four of them: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Outside the region, the named markets are:

• Africa: Nigeria and South Africa
• Europe: Serbia and Ukraine
• Asia: Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan

That makes 11 named countries out of 26. The announcement doesn't name the rest.

More than 100,000 advertisers in just over eight months

Over 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns on ChatGPT since ads launched a little more than eight months ago. The first tests started in the US on February 9, 2026.

OpenAI also shared a revenue figure. In an engineering post published the same day, OpenAI said ChatGPT Ads hit a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate less than 200 days after launch. A run rate takes current revenue and assumes it holds for a full year, so it's a pace rather than a booked annual total.

Ads appear only on the Free and Go plans

Only people on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans see ads. That rule hasn't changed with the expansion. OpenAI frames advertising as the way it keeps free and low-cost access going.

Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers see no ads

Plus, Pro and Enterprise stay ad-free. Go is the one paid plan that carries ads, so moving up to Plus is the way to avoid them while keeping a subscription. Free users have a separate ad-free option with lower usage limits (see ChatGPT ads come to image generation in a US test).

The 26 new countries join markets where ads were already live. Tests began in the US in February, and on August 11 OpenAI added the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea.

Ads are labeled as sponsored and shown below the answer

An ad shows up underneath ChatGPT's reply, marked as sponsored. OpenAI says ads don't change what the answer says.

Under its ads principles, OpenAI keeps conversations private from advertisers and doesn't sell customer data. Advertisers get their ads placed. They don't get the chat.

A separate system decides which ad to show

ChatGPT picks ads in its own service, apart from the model that writes the answer. OpenAI laid out the setup in an engineering post on the same day as the expansion. The two run side by side on different models and code, so if the ads side slows down or fails, ChatGPT keeps answering as normal.

Ads that arrive too late are dropped, not waited for

If the answer is ready and the ad isn't, the ad request times out and no ad appears for that reply. OpenAI says it never holds back a response to wait for an ad to load.

Returning no ad counts as a normal outcome, not a failure. That lets OpenAI keep the bar high and show an ad only when it's useful to both the user and the advertiser.

Past chats can shape ads, but advertisers never see them

The ads system keeps track of a conversation as it develops, and across several conversations. A custom LLM that OpenAI post-trained for ads runs the process, reading the context and deciding which tools to call to find and rank an ad. Post-training means taking a model that's already been trained and teaching it a specific job on top.

OpenAI's example is someone asking how to train for a race. The question starts general, and a few turns later it's about shoes. A system that reacted only to the first message would pick the wrong ad.

For users who turn on ad personalization, the system also weighs nonsensitive details from their past chats. The chats themselves stay out of advertisers' hands.

How advertisers in the new countries can buy ChatGPT ads

Businesses in the 26 new countries can buy ChatGPT ads now. OpenAI pitches the format to everyone from local shops to global brands, as a way to reach people while they're still comparing options.

Use Ads Manager or go through a technology partner

There are two ways in: self-serve through Ads Manager, or through a technology partner. Ads Manager is OpenAI's tool for creating campaigns and managing delivery yourself.

OpenAI's own example of a good fit is a runner planning race-week meals who narrows the options by diet and cooking time. An ad for a grocery delivery service they hadn't considered could appear in that conversation.

OpenAI plans more ad formats and measurement tools next

With 89 countries live, OpenAI says the next phase will add formats, campaign objectives, buying options and measurement. It's also looking at ways for businesses to reach people that feel more native to ChatGPT. L'Oréal, one of the early testers, said working with OpenAI lets it build journeys that run from discovery to evaluation to agentic commerce.