Sponsored Suggestions

Sponsored Suggestions is the official name OpenAI uses for its paid ad format inside ChatGPT. Launched in the United States on February 9, 2026 and rolling out into Canada, Australia, and New Zealand shortly after, the format places clearly labelled sponsored units beneath or alongside AI-generated answers, contextually matched to the user prompt.

It is the first native ad inventory on a mainstream consumer LLM and sits within the broader LLM Advertising category. Sponsored Suggestions is also the format most advertisers are testing first, because inventory is still scarce and the CPMs are lower than they are likely to be once demand scales.

How it works

When a user sends a commercial or category-relevant prompt, ChatGPT routes the request through OpenAI's ad auction. Advertisers bid based on intent signals derived from the prompt, previous session context, and advertiser-supplied first-party data.

Winning ads appear as discrete suggestion cards below the answer, with transparent sponsored labels and clear advertiser names. Creative is limited to concise headline, short description, landing URL, and optional product attributes, which OpenAI then adapts to the conversational context. Measurement is available inside OpenAI Ads Manager, covering impressions, clicks, assisted intent, and conversions via a pixel or server-side integration.

Why it matters

Sponsored Suggestions give advertisers placement inside one of the highest-intent consumer surfaces in digital media, right at the moment users are asking purchase-oriented questions. Because inventory is still scarce and entry bars are high, early advertisers are building category presence before wider adoption pushes CPMs up.

For performance teams, it is also a useful incremental channel to test against Google and Meta search-intent campaigns, and the learnings transfer directly to other LLM Advertising placements.

Related terms: LLM Advertising, Contextual Targeting, Attribution Window, Conversions API, Programmatic Direct.