The billion-dollar battle for ChatGPT user attention

ChatGPT's advertising service, launched in March 2026, reached an annualized revenue run rate of $1 billion in just 200 days, with tens of thousands of advertisers using the platform, according to "The State of ChatGPT Ads" report produced by Graphite in collaboration with Similarweb (dated September 28, 2026). The report outlines the scale of this shift and illustrates how advertisers are attempting to transform the dialogue with artificial intelligence into a new sales channel. Essentially, advertising companies are beginning to allocate funds to reach users directly within the conversations where they clarify their needs, compare options, and seek solutions.

The research combines Similarweb panel data with Graphite's analysis of advertisements and the landing pages to which they direct users. Over 98,000 ads and more than 8,000 landing pages were analyzed. Of the total online ads on ChatGPT, over 95,000 originated from 500 U.S.-based advertisers and were tracked between April 1 and August 16, 2026. According to the cited document, these figures are complemented by more than 70,000 distinct creative variations and over 50,000 different headlines.

The first key finding concerns the reach of the advertisements. In September 2026, according to Similarweb, 43.4% of U.S. users eligible for advertising had seen at least one ad on ChatGPT. In the United Kingdom, the proportion reached 45.7%, in Australia 43.3%, and in Canada 42.9%. At the other end of the ranking was Mexico, with 27.8%. These percentages refer to users eligible to see the ads-a crucial distinction for understanding the true scale of the metric. Romania is not among the nine markets analyzed, so the report does not allow for conclusions regarding the exposure of Romanian users.

Even more striking is the trend in the click-through rate-the metric showing what proportion of ad impressions translates into actual clicks. The report indicates a 112% global increase in this rate over the period studied. For advertisers, this trend signals that the new channel can capture user interest. For the platform, it suggests growing commercial potential. There are significant differences between countries. Brazil leads the click-through rate rankings for the period analyzed at 1.91%, followed by Mexico at 1.55% and Japan at 1.53%. The United States recorded 0.73%, the United Kingdom 0.74%, and Canada 0.75%. In other words, markets where ads reach a larger share of eligible users are not necessarily the ones where those users click most frequently. This discrepancy complicates corporate strategies: the scope of exposure and the willingness to engage with an offer must be evaluated separately.

The report also identifies a prime moment for advertising: the start of the conversation. Advertisements displayed during the first four exchanges between the user and ChatGPT have a click-through rate 48% higher than those appearing later. Furthermore, the first three exchanges account for 51% of total ad impressions, with the first exchange alone generating 28%.

Who dominates this market? The global ranking by share of ad impressions is led by Monday.com and Jotform, each with 2.23%, followed by Resume.io at 2.16%. Booking.com holds 1.42%, Design.com 1.19%, and Cursor 0.97%. ManageEngine, Shopify, HubSpot, and Cloudflare also appear in the upper tier of the rankings. These figures represent impression shares within the analyzed dataset, reflecting advertiser visibility without directly indicating the value of invested budgets or campaign-generated revenue.

According to the report's authors, the companies in this group share a common trait: they offer products or services that users can purchase online immediately. Subscriptions, resume-building tools, digital services, or hotel rooms align well with a dialogue in which a user is seeking a concrete solution.

In the United States, the B2B SaaS category-comprising software services for businesses-accounts for 19.9% of the analyzed ad impressions. Retail and consumer brands hold 10.4%, professional services 8.5%, and the careers and employment sector 5.5%. This distribution demonstrates that digital tools for work, organization, and productivity have rapidly secured a significant presence. However, the market is far from stable. The report tracks advertisers expanding their presence, others that fluctuate, and companies that appear for a time before dropping out of sight. Jotform and Resume.io are the only ones to remain in the top ten throughout all 20 weeks of the presented ranking.

The data show that 61% of conversations featuring an advertisement included a brand mention, compared to 36% of those without an advertisement. This association does not prove that the mere introduction of a brand name triggers advertising, nor the fact that 61% of all conversations about brands feature ads. However, it suggests that dialogues involving brands provide a significant context for the advertising observed.

Competition also plays out in how messages are crafted. In a comparison involving ten advertisers present on both ChatGPT and Google Search, only 1.9% of ad headlines on ChatGPT matched those used in search engine advertising. The authors summarize this finding by noting that approximately 98% of the headlines are new compared to those found on Google Search.

The report indicates that advertising on ChatGPT serves as an additional channel within a landscape where Google Search-based on the report's comparison-continues to host a much higher volume of ads. A key takeaway from the cited document is that any conversation with artificial intelligence creates a space where users can articulate their needs in detail, allowing a commercial offer to appear in close proximity to the moment of decision-making. For the consumer, this proximity can represent a useful solution or an additional prompt to purchase. For companies, it signifies a new battle for visibility. The Graphite-Similarweb report captures a market still defining its own rules but already driven by a billion-dollar ambition: to transform queries posed to artificial intelligence into meeting points between user intent and advertiser offerings.