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We covered ChatGPT Ads back in February when the platform first opened.
Since then, we've been running campaigns across industries and reporting what we learn.
August brought the biggest platform update since launch: custom audiences, conversion-optimized bidding, geographic controls, automatic budget pacing, bulk campaign tools, and a 31-country EU expansion.
We've had conversion bidding live across accounts for two weeks.
The numbers started changing immediately.
What They Changed
OpenAI rolled out several updates this month that shift ChatGPT Ads from a pure awareness play to a full-funnel advertising channel.
Custom audiences:
You can now target users based on your own data.
First-party lists, lookalikes, and retargeting segments are all in.
For accounts that were getting clicks but struggling to control who saw the ads, this is a huge unlock.
Conversion-optimized bidding:
The platform can now bid toward a conversion event instead of clicks or impressions.
Before this update, the algorithm optimized for in-chat behavior.
Now it optimizes for the conversion events you're actually aiming for.
Geographic exclusions and budget pacing:
You can exclude specific markets and set the platform to automatically pace spend to your monthly target.
Both were missing at launch.
Both are now live.
Bulk campaign tools:
Creating hundreds of campaigns is finally practical (and won't take 40 hours).
EU expansion:
31 new European markets are live. If your campaigns have been limited to North America, that's a new lane.
The self-serve floor is gone entirely.
What started at $200K minimums in February is now fully open to any advertiser with a budget and a product.
From Inside the Accounts
We started running client campaigns the same week the platform opened in February.
Two weeks ago, we rebuilt almost all campaigns across accounts to take advantage of conversion bidding.
Water Treatment Company
CPC dropped from $5.28 to $3.18 in the 7 days after the rebuild went live.
(a 40% drop)
CTR moved from 0.68% to 0.87% in the same window.
Both of these combined led to 3X the tracked lead-flow for the same budget.
Two Healthcare Providers
After switching to conversion bidding, one campaign dropped CPC from $4.63 to $2.75.
41% cheaper per click, on lower spend, with click volume climbing from 24 to 36.
On the second account in the same rebuild cycle, CPC dropped from $4.23 to $2.53.
Both accounts showed the same pattern in GA4: organic traffic from chatgpt/ai-assistant is up 86% on one, 129% on the other, since these campaigns launched.
Most of that lift comes from people who saw an ad, kept researching in another session, and came back through the chat interface without ever clicking.
When you're present in the answers people are already reading, the traffic follows.
This is called a "halo-effect" and we're seeing it across every ChatGPT Advertising account.
B2B Software Company
First full week of campaigns: $825 in spend, 18 contact form submissions.
At full attribution to ChatGPT, that's a $46 Cost-per-Lead (CPL).
Compared to their natural baseline lead flow, the number held well under their $100 CPL target.
What You Should Do
If you're already running:
Enable conversion bidding immediately (if you haven't)
Every account we rebuilt saw CPC drop within a week.
The algorithm needed a conversion target to work properly, and now it has one.
Upload a custom audience from your existing buyer list or CRM.
That's the fix for accounts that have been pulling in clicks from the wrong people.
Set geographic exclusions for markets that historically don't convert.
That budget was being wasted before, with these changes you can save it.
If you're not running yet:
The self-serve ads interface is open to anyone.
Start with $1,500-$3,000 for a first campaign.
Enough to get real data without overcommitting before you know how the platform performs in your category.
Lead with pain point targeted queries & copy that matches.
They outperform general category and competitor targeting terms across every account we've run on this platform.
The platform is built for people deep in a research/decision conversation.
Match the query targets to that intent.
Six months ago, this platform was only accessible to a handful of advertisers with six-figure minimums.
The CPC numbers we're seeing now after conversion bidding went live would be a headline on any established paid media platform.
Are you getting in while intent is this high and CPCs are this low, or are you waiting until everyone else is running the same playbook?
As advertising platforms become more "mainstream" the competition for ad space goes up, and with it the prices you pay for that space.
Get in while it's cheap.
Are you running ChatGPT Ads yet?
If you want a plan built around your specific category and budget, we'll put one together.
