Checked 19 October 2026
What ChatGPT Ads Manager actually is
OpenAI's self-serve buying platform. It opened to US businesses in May 2026 and went from 4 countries to 52 on 31 August 2026, 56 on 16 September, then 63 on 23 September. If you have used Google Ads, the shape will be familiar. The targeting will not.
The account structure
3 levels, same as Google: Campaign → Ad group → Ad.
At campaign level you set the objective and pricing model, the budget, and the schedule. Budgets start at $25 a day. You can set start and end dates or run continuously.
At ad group level you set your bid and your context hints, the short descriptions that replace keywords. This is where targeting lives, and where the platform stops behaving like Google.
At ad level you supply the brand name, logo, title, description, image and destination URL. The character limits here are tight enough to be the hardest part of the whole build.
Where to find your API keys
Under Settings → General → API Keys, inside Ads Manager. Not the standard OpenAI developer console, which is where most people look first and conclude there is no API.
What is missing
There is no manager account. One login does not span multiple client accounts, and one API key is scoped to one ad account. If you buy for several businesses, you are managing several separate logins.
Familiar
Campaign, ad group, ad. Daily budgets. Scheduling. Bulk upload via a campaign schema template. CSV reporting exports.
Not familiar
No keyword lists. No search terms report in the Google sense. No manager account. Creative fields measured in the low tens of characters.
Campaign level
3 objectives, 3 ways to pay
You pick this once, at campaign level, and it decides how you are billed. oCPC and oCPM mean you set a target cost per sale or sign-up, and the system bids per click or per thousand views to hit it.
| Objective | Model | You pay | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Views | CPM | Per 1,000 impressions | Brand awareness, launches, category education |
| Clicks | CPC | Per click | Traffic to a landing page or product |
| Conversions | oCPC / oCPM | Per click or per 1,000 impressions, optimised for a target action | Purchases, leads, sign-ups |
There are also product feed campaigns, where you upload a structured catalogue, and carousel ads that let someone compare several items inside a single answer. Both are aimed at ecommerce. Since 4 September 2026, a product feed is required to appear in ChatGPT shopping placements at all, whatever the budget.
Next
Costs, then targeting. Those 2 decide whether this channel is worth your time.
Keep reading
ChatGPT Sponsored Agents
The brand chat that opens after an ad click: who has it, and how to get ready.
Read the guideChatGPT Ads cost and the $25 minimum
The $25 daily floor, the 3 ways to pay, and where the $50,000 figure comes from.
Read the guideChatGPT Ads targeting: context hints
There is no keyword list. How to describe a conversation instead.
Read the guideHave us do it
We build the account, run it daily and report back. Fixed fee to launch, then month to month.