OpenAI Expands Its Ad Business Into 31 New European Markets
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is significantly expanding its advertising system: the company announced Wednesday it is extending the pilot into 31 new European markets, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Czechia, and Portugal.
Until now, the ad pilot had only run in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico. The European rollout marks the next step in cementing OpenAI's position in the ad market.
The expansion isn't arbitrary — the company's ad revenue is up more than 25% since early August, OpenAI's chief marketing officer, Colin Fleming, said at a briefing. Fleming, who previously ran advertising at ServiceNow, called it a "significant expansion" for OpenAI.
The numbers back up the move: ChatGPT's weekly active users now stand at 1 billion, and 20% of them come to the platform with clear commercial intent — queries tied to buying a product or booking a service.
That's turning OpenAI from a merely interesting tech project into a full-fledged advertising channel with real buyers. The audience showing purchase intent through AI chatbots is now large enough that major brands can no longer afford to ignore it.
Experts say that if OpenAI's European push succeeds, it could push other AI platforms to expand their own ad systems faster — reshaping the digital marketing landscape once again.
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