ChatGPT Ads Are Coming Fast: Image and Video Formats Now in the Works
The advertising world may be watching a new giant take shape. OpenAI is staffing up to build image, video, native, and conversational ad formats inside ChatGPT — a big step beyond the plain sponsored text unit it’s been testing since February. For small businesses weighing where to spend limited ad dollars, a brand-new channel with hundreds of millions of users is worth understanding before it goes mainstream.
What happened
According to , OpenAI has posted three San Francisco engineering roles on its monetization team — an iOS engineer, an Android engineer, and a senior software engineer for monetization and ads — aimed at developing new ad formats spanning image, video, native, and conversational surfaces. The job descriptions stress “safety, privacy, fairness and policy compliance” across its ad systems.
The current ChatGPT ad format has reached seven markets and already runs on cost-per-click bidding with a self-service ads manager. The ad-tech partner Criteo reports that more than 2,000 brands now run ChatGPT ads through its platform. OpenAI says it will “evolve the program over time to support additional formats, objectives and buying models,” though it hasn’t said when the new image and video ads will reach testing.
One detail hints at how different these ads could be: OpenAI has described a format where “you could ask an ad questions before making a purchase decision” — advertising you can actually talk to.
Why it matters
Search advertising has been a two-horse race for two decades. A serious ad platform inside ChatGPT would be the first real challenger in years — and it arrives just as AI assistants are absorbing the very searches that used to send people to Google and to your website.
The move to image and video also signals ambition. Text ads are a toe in the water; hiring mobile engineers to build rich, interactive formats is a plan to compete for real brand budgets.
OpenAI has described a format where “you could ask an ad questions before making a purchase decision.” — via Search Engine Journal
What this means for small businesses
You don’t need to rush in — but you shouldn’t be caught flat-footed either:
- Watch, don’t leap. The format is early and still limited to a handful of markets. Treat it as a channel to learn now and test later, not a budget to move today.
- Early channels reward early movers. Google and Facebook ads were cheapest and least crowded at the start. If ChatGPT ads open to your market, small advertisers who experiment early often pay less for attention than latecomers.
- Get your fundamentals AI-ready. Whether an assistant recommends you organically or shows your ad, it pulls from clear, credible information about your business. Tight product info, reviews, and site content pay off in both.
- Keep your paid strategy flexible. The same budget discipline that governs Google Ads applies here: define the goal, start small, measure conversions, and scale only what works.
The bottom line
ChatGPT ads are moving from experiment to infrastructure, and image and video formats will make them far more useful to visual, local, and product-driven businesses. You don’t have to be first — but you should be ready. Keep an eye on this channel, keep your business information sharp, and be prepared to test it the moment it makes sense for your market.