OpenAI is bringing ads inside ChatGPT to 31 European countries
Free and Go users in Germany, France, Italy and 28 other markets will start seeing sponsored placements. Paid plans stay ad-free.
Key points
- OpenAI will roll out ChatGPT Ads to 31 European countries next week, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria.
- Ads appear only to users on the Free and Go plans; Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers stay ad-free.
- Advertisers first buy through OpenAI's sales team, agencies and technology partners, with self-service Ads Manager access following later this summer.
- OpenAI began testing ChatGPT Ads in the United States in February 2025 and has since expanded to eight more markets before this European rollout.
- The company says it does not sell customer data, keeps conversations private from advertisers, and that ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers.
OpenAI is putting sponsored placements inside ChatGPT for tens of millions more people. Next week, ChatGPT Ads arrives in 31 European countries, the company's biggest advertising rollout since it began testing the format in the United States in February.
The list is long. Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Austria are all in. So are most other EU members.
Who will actually see the ads?
Only people on the Free and Go plans. Anyone paying for Plus, Pro or Enterprise keeps an ad-free ChatGPT, according to OpenAI's announcement.
Go is OpenAI's cheapest paid tier, sold in a handful of countries at a low monthly price. Free is what most people use. If you have never handed OpenAI a card, you are in the group that will start seeing sponsored results.
OpenAI frames this as a trade. Ads pay for what it calls "free and low-cost access" to its chatbot, the software that answers questions in plain English.
What will the ads look like?
The company says sponsored content will be "clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT's answers," and that advertising will not change the answers the model gives. Users will also get controls over ad personalisation.
That last point matters in Europe. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation, the bloc's main privacy law, and the newer Digital Services Act both require clear labelling of ads and meaningful user choice over tracking. OpenAI's public ads principles say the company keeps conversations private from advertisers and does not sell customer data.
Whether regulators agree with how those promises are implemented is a separate question, and one national data protection authorities in Ireland, Italy and Germany have already shown appetite to test.
How does the ad system work for businesses?
At launch, European advertisers cannot log in and buy ads themselves. They have to go through OpenAI's Ads Solutions team, an agency partner or a technology partner. Self-service through Ads Manager comes "later this summer," the company says.
Under the hood, OpenAI has been building the tools advertisers expect from Google or Meta:
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| CPM and CPC bidding | Pay per thousand views or per click |
| Conversion optimisation | Bid toward sales or sign-ups, not just clicks |
| Geo-targeting and custom audiences | Reach specific regions or customer lists |
| OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API | Track what happens after the click |
OpenAI says tens of thousands of marketers have advertised on ChatGPT so far.
Why is this a big deal?
Search advertising is a roughly $300 billion global market, and until now Google has owned most of it. ChatGPT is the first product at real scale where people type full sentences describing a goal, planning a holiday, comparing accounting software, furnishing a flat, instead of a few keywords.
That is a richer signal than a search box. It is also, for the same reason, more sensitive. A chatbot that quietly nudges you toward a paying advertiser's product is a different thing from one that just tries to answer your question.
What should users do?
Nothing urgent. If you are on the Free plan, watch for the label "Sponsored" or similar next to results starting next week, and check the ad personalisation settings in your account if you would rather limit tracking. If you already pay for Plus or Pro, your experience does not change.
