# OpenAI will bring ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets next week > Source: > Published: 2026-08-19 17:58:02.503934+00:00 # OpenAI will bring ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets next week - OpenAI announced on August 18, 2026, that ChatGPT Ads will expand to 31 European countries the following week, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/) - Ads may appear for Free and Go users. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts will not receive ads, and OpenAI says it does not show ads to accounts identified as belonging to people under 18. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) - Advertisers can use CPM, CPC or conversion-optimized CPC campaigns, with country targeting, custom audiences and advertiser-supplied context hints. [[3]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001207)[[4]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001210) - OpenAI says advertisers do not receive users’ chats or personal details. Personalized ads are initially unavailable in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) OpenAI will bring ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets next week, extending the company’s advertising experiment into a region with stricter rules around consent, profiling, minors and advertising transparency. The rollout will include Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria, among other countries. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/) Advertisers will initially access the inventory through OpenAI’s Ads Solutions team, agency partners and technology partners. OpenAI said self-service buying through Ads Manager will follow later in summer 2026, but did not give a specific date for that transition. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/) ## A new sales channel built around conversational intent Ads may appear for users on OpenAI’s Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts will not have ads, and OpenAI says it does not show ads to accounts identified as belonging to people under 18. The company says advertising helps support free and low-cost access to ChatGPT. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/)[[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) OpenAI is positioning the product around the context people provide in conversations. Its examples include trip planning, business-software research, furnishing a home, learning and starting a hobby. Ads appear below ChatGPT responses, are labeled as sponsored and are visually separated from the answers. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/)[[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) OpenAI says ads run on separate systems and cannot shape, rank or alter ChatGPT’s responses. Its placement rules exclude sensitive or regulated conversations, including personal health, mental health and political discussions. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)[[5]](https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/ad-policies/) The current policy permits a limited set of consumer categories, including household and consumer goods, local services, travel and entertainment, and digital products and education. Financial, healthcare and legal advertising is restricted; OpenAI says ads in those areas may require approval, while its policy states that such advertising is generally prohibited outside the United States. [[5]](https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/ad-policies/) OpenAI’s advertiser site identifies Best Buy, Lowe’s and VistaPrint as early advertisers and quotes Best Buy’s vice president of media, Amy Adams. Digiday separately reported that Zalando and clients represented by Dentsu participated in the earlier U.K. pilot. These are advertiser and partner examples, not independent performance validation. [[6]](https://ads.openai.com/)[[7]](https://digiday.com/marketing/chatgpt-ads-land-in-u-k-as-openai-outlines-eu-privacy-rules/) ## Targeting and pricing are increasingly conventional OpenAI says its ad system considers the current conversation’s context and intent, the landing page, headline and copy, advertiser-provided context hints and targeting selections. When personalization is enabled, selected signals from a user’s broader ChatGPT experience may also be used. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)[[3]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001207) Advertisers can target countries and, where supported, more granular locations. Campaign setup also supports custom audiences and optional platform targeting across iOS, Android and web surfaces. Context hints describe the conversations, topics or keywords where a product may be relevant, but OpenAI says they are not exact-match keywords and do not guarantee delivery in a particular conversation. [[3]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001207)[[4]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001210) The platform supports reach campaigns priced on a cost-per-thousand-impressions basis, click campaigns priced per valid click and conversion-optimized CPC campaigns. OpenAI recommends starting CPC maximum bids at $3 to $5 per click, but that is platform guidance rather than a published European price. Its auction is relevance-weighted and second-price. [[3]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001207) Advertisers can choose a campaign-total budget or a daily budget. OpenAI’s current published minimum-spend table lists minimums for several existing markets, including $25 per day in the United States and £15 in the United Kingdom, but does not list the new European countries. The European launch announcement did not publish a separate minimum or rate card for those markets. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/)[[4]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001210) ## Measurement depends on advertiser-side tracking OpenAI says advertisers do not receive users’ conversations, chat history, memories or personal details. They receive aggregated reporting such as views and clicks. Users can turn off ad personalization, dismiss ads, see why an ad was shown and clear data used for ads. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) Personalized ads are initially unavailable in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. OpenAI’s European privacy policy says it may use ads data and information from advertisers or other data partners to help measure and show more relevant ads to Free and Go users, subject to user choices and controls. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)[[8]](https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/eu-services-privacy-policy/) For conversion measurement, advertisers can use the OpenAI Pixel, the Conversions API or both. OpenAI can associate events with an eligible ad click using its oppref click reference, advanced matching and, where available, modeled measurement. The company warns that its totals may differ from other analytics systems because of attribution windows, consent, browser storage, deduplication and modeled conversions. [[9]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001409-conversion-measurement) OpenAI’s documentation says advertisers should send conversion data only when permitted by law and after providing clear information about data collection and obtaining necessary consent. That makes the measurement stack more capable than simple click reporting, but also leaves advertisers responsible for their own consent and compliance processes. [[9]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001409-conversion-measurement) ## The European regulatory questions remain open The rollout will operate alongside the GDPR and ePrivacy rules governing personal-data processing and tracking technologies. OpenAI’s European policy identifies consent as the basis for personalized advertising for Free and Go users, while the company’s ad controls say users in the EEA and Switzerland will initially not receive personalized ads. [[2]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt)[[8]](https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/eu-services-privacy-policy/) The Digital Services Act requires online platforms to label advertising and provide information about who placed an ad and why it was shown. It also prohibits targeted advertising based on protected categories such as ethnicity, religion, political views or sexual orientation, and bars platforms from presenting profiling-based targeted ads to minors. [[10]](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/faqs/digital-services-act-questions-and-answers) Very large online platforms and search engines—services reaching at least 45 million EU users—face additional obligations, including risk assessments and a public advertising repository. OpenAI’s announcement does not say whether ChatGPT has been designated as a VLOP or VLOSE, so the precise scope of those obligations for this rollout cannot be established from the company’s announcement. [[10]](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/faqs/digital-services-act-questions-and-answers) OpenAI says tens of thousands of marketers have advertised on ChatGPT since the February 2026 U.S. pilot. It has not disclosed advertising revenue, European campaign volume or independently audited performance benchmarks. [[1]](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/) ## Companies mentioned ## Further sources [[1] OpenAI’s August 18, 2026 announcement gives the rollout timing, 31-country coun… ↗](https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-ads-expands-across-europe/) [[2] OpenAI’s Ads in ChatGPT FAQ covers account eligibility, under-18 exclusions, ad… ↗](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt) [[3] OpenAI’s Ads in ChatGPT: The Basics documentation describes context signals, co… ↗](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001207) [[4] OpenAI’s campaign documentation covers oCPC, budgets, platform and location tar… ↗](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001210) [[5] OpenAI’s ad policies define placement restrictions and eligible, restricted and… ↗](https://openai.com/en-GB/policies/ad-policies/) [[6] OpenAI’s advertiser site identifies Best Buy, Lowe’s and VistaPrint as early ad… ↗](https://ads.openai.com/)+4 more The stories that matter, in one email. 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