OpenAI is allowing financial services brands into the ChatGPT ads pilot

The ChatGPT ads pilot just got a little bigger.

OpenAI is allowing a group of financial services brands, a highly regulated vertical, to test ads in the pilot, the company confirmed to Marketing Brew. Financial services brands like Robinhood and BestMoney are already running ads on ChatGPT, according to ads served to Marketing Brew on the platform.

Find your feet: OpenAI has been running an ad pilot since February for logged-in adult users of the ChatGPT Free and Go subscription tiers.

• Early on, the pilot contained numerous travel brands, making the vertical crowded, two agency executives previously told Marketing Brew.
• While the pilot rolled out with $60 CPMs, the fees have become more flexible since then; OpenAI debuted cost-per-click bidding and a self-serve ads manager platform earlier this month.
• It has also announced partnerships with ad-tech companies including Kargo and Pacvue.

As it continues its ads business buildout, OpenAI is also hiring multiple ad executives around the world, including a creative director in Latin America. (It hired Meta alum David Dugan to run its ads business as VP and head of global ads solutions back in March.)

“We’re expanding the pilot deliberately, with a focus on learning and getting the experience right for users,” Asad Awan, head of monetization at OpenAI, told Marketing Brew in an email last month.