On May 5, 2026, OpenAI removed the last barrier to ChatGPT advertising for most businesses: the minimum spend requirement. The platform’s self-serve Ads Manager, now open to all US businesses, accepts cost-per-click (CPC) bids and requires no upfront commitment. Within two days, OpenAI announced the international expansion of its ads pilot to five additional markets. The step-change from enterprise-only to open platform has significant implications for any brand considering a GEA strategy.
From $250,000 minimum to zero
The journey from ChatGPT’s advertising launch to open access has moved faster than most expected. The original pilot required minimum commitments of $200,000 to $250,000 — a threshold that confined the format to enterprise brands with substantial testing budgets and dedicated agency relationships. The April drop to $50,000 opened the door to mid-market advertisers. The May 5 removal of all minimum spend requirements changes the audience entirely: any US business with a campaign and a CPC bid can now access ChatGPT’s ad inventory.
This is not a cosmetic change. Self-serve CPC bidding creates a performance-accountable entry point. Advertisers pay for clicks, not impressions, and can start with modest budgets to gather real performance data before scaling. The measurement implications are meaningful: CPC-based campaigns evaluate on standard performance metrics that most advertisers already use for paid search — cost per click, conversion rate, and return on ad spend.
International expansion: five new markets
The May 7 announcement of international expansion brings ChatGPT advertising to the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico. OpenAI described the rollout as “thoughtful”, with formats adapting to local regulatory contexts and user expectations.
The UK and Japan markets are significant for B2B advertisers: both have high concentrations of ChatGPT’s most active business users, and both are markets where AI search adoption is accelerating faster than average. For brands with an international remit, this is the first opportunity to run ChatGPT campaigns outside the US market.
Custom audiences: the next capability
OpenAI is also preparing custom audience targeting for ChatGPT Ads. Advertisers will be able to upload hashed email and phone number lists, allowing retargeting and suppression lists similar to those used in paid social campaigns. The feature was in gated rollout as of May 14, 2026, and is expected to roll out broadly in the coming weeks.
Custom audiences close an important gap between ChatGPT advertising and the targeting sophistication available on Google and Meta. For B2B brands that maintain email lists from CRM systems, custom audiences unlock the ability to reach known prospects and customers within ChatGPT at a precision level not previously available on AI platforms.
What this means for GEA strategy
ChatGPT advertising has moved from a media-buyer experiment to an accessible paid channel in the space of three months. The removal of the minimum spend, the introduction of CPC bidding, and the international rollout together create the conditions for GEA strategy to extend beyond Google’s AI Mode into a genuine multi-platform approach.
For brands that have been waiting for ChatGPT advertising to become accountable, accessible, and measurable: May 2026 is that moment. The first-mover advantage in a new channel is real and typically short. The brands that build ChatGPT campaign experience now will enter 2027 with performance benchmarks that competitors cannot buy.
Sources: OpenAI, New Ways to Buy ChatGPT Ads · Axios, OpenAI Launches Self-Serve Ad Platform · Digiday, OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Ads to UK, Brazil and Japan