ChatGPT now sells ads in the US, Mexico and most of Latin America, and its Ads Manager looks a lot like Meta’s. But it thinks differently: you don’t buy keywords, you buy conversations. Show up with a Google Ads mindset and you’ll burn your budget in a week.
I’m Alonso Jiménez, a Retail Media account director. I manage campaigns on Amazon, Walmart, Target, Instacart and Mercado Libre every day, for brands in the US, Mexico and Latin America. This tutorial walks you through ChatGPT Ads Manager: what each menu does, how to build your first campaign and what to set up before you spend a single dollar.
⚡ THE ESSENTIALS IN 20 SECONDS
- ChatGPT Ads Manager is OpenAI’s self-serve ad platform at ads.openai.com: open an account, verify your business and launch without an agency.
- The structure is campaign → ad group → ad. Targeting runs on conversation context, not keywords.
- Before launching: install the pixel, define your conversion and start with a clicks objective and a test budget.
IN THIS ARTICLE
What ChatGPT Ads Manager is (and why it matters now)
ChatGPT Ads Manager: OpenAI’s self-serve ad platform where any business can create, pay for and measure campaigns that appear below ChatGPT answers, clearly labeled and separate from the answer.
OpenAI opened the beta on May 5, 2026 for US businesses. Before that, you needed a pilot slot with very high minimum commitments. It reached Mexico and Brazil in August, and on October 21, 2026 OpenAI said ChatGPT Ads is live in 89 countries, with more than 100,000 advertisers having run campaigns.
One detail most guides skip: ads are only shown to Free and Go users. Plus, Pro and business plans see no ads, and neither do users under 18. That defines your audience: a mass audience comparing options in real time.
If you’re new to the format, start with my guide to what ChatGPT Ads are and how they work. Here we go straight into the platform.
What you need before signing up (so verification doesn’t stall)
Setup has five steps: create the account, complete business verification, add account details (including a favicon), set up billing and invite your team. Have this ready:
- Legal business name and address for the billing profile.
- A credit card with a billing address.
- A live domain with a favicon, because your ad shows your name and icon.
- Access to your site or tag manager to install the pixel.
- If you’re an agency: one account per advertiser. Brands can’t share an account.
A tour of every menu in Ads Manager
| Menu | What it does | My take |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Spend, impressions, clicks and average CPC, filtered by date, country and platform. | Check it daily in week one. |
| Campaigns | Guided setup or bulk upload. | Use guided setup for your first campaign. |
| Conversions | Pixel, Conversions API and events. | Set it up BEFORE launching. |
| Channels / catalog | Upload your product feed for catalog campaigns. | Essential for ecommerce. |
| Audiences | Your own email or phone lists to include or exclude. | Needs scale (see below). |
| Change history | Who changed what and when. | A lifesaver with a team. |
| Settings | Account info, users, billing, API keys and creative enhancement. | Decide whether you allow automated variations. |
Watch the creative enhancement setting: it lets AI generate variations of your ad that can serve without your approval. For brands with strict guidelines, I’d keep it off at first.
Your first campaign in 7 steps
Objective (reach, clicks or conversions), budget, dates and locations.
One theme or intent. Context hints and bidding live here.
Title, description, image and landing page. Short and direct.
- Name and objective. Reach (you pay per thousand impressions), clicks (you pay per click) or conversions. For your first campaign, pick clicks.
- Locations. Country, region or postal code, plus exclusions.
- Platforms. App and web, iOS and Android, desktop. Keep them all at first, then compare.
- Budget. Daily or total. In USD accounts the minimum is $25 per day per campaign.
- Ad group and bidding. Automatic (max results) or a max CPC. OpenAI suggests starting at a $3 to $5 max per click.
- Context hints. The most important part, covered below.
- Ad. Short title and description, an image (not just your logo) and a landing page with UTMs. Build two versions to compare.
The daily budget is a target, not a hard cap: on a given day spend can reach twice your setting, though weekly spend won’t exceed seven times your daily budget.
Context hints: the new keyword (and how to write them)
There’s no broad, phrase or exact match. The system decides relevance by reading the conversation, your landing page, your ad title and copy. Context hints guide that matching but don’t guarantee you’ll show in a specific conversation.
| Written like a keyword | Written like a conversation |
|---|---|
| sunscreen | which sunscreen works for oily skin in a humid climate |
| amazon ads agency | how do I scale Amazon sales without raising my ACOS |
| specialty coffee | what coffee should I buy for a French press that isn’t bitter |
Think about the full question your customer would ask, not the single word. Group hints by intent: one group for “compare”, one for “solve a problem” and one for “buy now”. That tells you which kind of conversation actually sells.
Pixel and conversions: set them up before launch
Ads Manager has a pixel and a Conversions API. The flow: verify your domain, create a data source, install the script in your site header and define the event (purchase, lead, sign-up). UTMs in your URL persist through the click, so you’ll also see results in GA4.
Reporting covers impressions, clicks, spend, CTR, average CPC and CPM, and conversions only if you configured them. If you don’t measure, you won’t know whether that expensive click sold anything. That’s why closed-loop measurement matters so much in retail media.
Custom audiences? You can upload emails or phone numbers to include, exclude or adjust bids, but a list needs at least 25,000 matched users to be usable. Most small businesses aren’t there yet.
6 mistakes that cost you money in week one
You pay $3–5 clicks without knowing if anyone bought.
The system reads conversations; single words underperform.
With no data, the algorithm can’t learn. Start with clicks.
Use the exact product or service page for that conversation.
Automated variations nobody approved.
Each advertiser needs its own account.
Agency secrets for ChatGPT Ads Manager
None of this is in OpenAI’s help center. It’s what I apply when I test a new channel with real money.
The system reads your landing page. A focused page puts you in more conversations on that topic.
Split “compare”, “solve” and “buy”. In two weeks you know which intent pays for the click.
Change only the headline between the two ads. Change everything and you learn nothing.
Use a different utm_content per group so GA4 tells you the story even without platform conversions.
Day 3: delivery and CPC. Day 7: CTR and traffic quality. Day 14: conversions and a decision.
You don’t win a new channel with budget, you win it with discipline. The accounts that grow fastest on a new platform measure from day one and change one thing at a time.
Conclusion: start small, measure everything, decide in 14 days
ChatGPT Ads Manager is a real option for US and Latin American brands. Open it, install the pixel, launch a clicks campaign with two intent-based ad groups and give it two weeks. Then decide whether it scales or whether your money works harder on Amazon and Walmart. If you sell cross-border, remember Mexico is already live.
Want a second pair of eyes on your first campaign? Book a 1:1 consulting session. I also cover this on Retail Media con Alonso (in Spanish).
Frequently asked questions
What is ChatGPT Ads Manager?
OpenAI’s self-serve platform at ads.openai.com to create, pay for and measure ads that appear below ChatGPT answers.
Can I use ChatGPT Ads Manager outside the US?
Yes. As of October 2026, ChatGPT Ads is available in 89 countries, including Mexico, Canada and most of Latin America. Check OpenAI’s help center for the current list.
What is the minimum budget?
In USD accounts, $25 per day per campaign. The minimum varies by billing currency.
Does ChatGPT Ads use keywords?
No. It uses conversation context. Your context hints guide matching but don’t guarantee placement.
Who sees the ads?
Adult users on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro and business plans don’t see ads.
OpenAI: 26 new countries · OpenAI Help: create campaigns · PPC Land: self-serve Ads Manager