OpenAI has started showing ChatGPT ads in Pakistan. On October 21 the company added advertising in 26 more countries, bringing the total to 89 markets. Pakistani users on the free tier and the Go plan will now see sponsored messages between replies.
Paid Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers will not see those ads. OpenAI says the promotions will not change how ChatGPT answers a question. The company ties the push to a product used by about 1.2 billion weekly active users.
Who sees the ads, and who does not
Ads are limited to Free and Go accounts. Anyone paying for Plus, Pro or Enterprise keeps an ad-free chat. For most people in Pakistan who use the free product, sponsored lines between answers are now part of normal use.
OpenAI launched advertising a little over eight months ago, in February. In a company statement on the latest rollout, it said more than 100,000 advertisers have already run campaigns, and that the expansion builds on earlier openings in Europe, Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
Pakistan is in the same wave as 14 Latin American countries, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, plus Nigeria, South Africa, Serbia, Ukraine, Cambodia and Bangladesh.
How fast the ad business has grown
By March, OpenAI’s ad business was earning roughly $100 million a year. By August that figure had risen about tenfold to $1 billion. The company wants ad revenue of $2.5 billion before the year ends.
Advertiser numbers climbed from about 20,000 in late August to more than 100,000 by October. OpenAI has pointed to early campaign results: one online retailer said it earned three times what it spent within 28 days, and one tech firm said more than 80% of traffic from ChatGPT ads came from new customers.
Brands can buy through major agency partners or OpenAI’s self-service Ads Manager, with impression-based and click-based pricing. The company recommends a starting bid of $3 to $5 per click.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- February: OpenAI launched its first ChatGPT ads.
- March: Ad revenue was running at about $100 million a year.
- August: Annualised ad revenue reached about $1 billion; advertiser count was still near 20,000 late in the month.
- September: OpenAI began testing “Sponsored Agents,” where tapping an ad opens a branded AI chat instead of a webpage.
- Early October: Ads appeared inside image generation.
- October 21: Ads expanded to 26 more countries, including Pakistan, for a total of 89 markets.
OpenAI is also building advertising capacity ahead of a reported stock listing planned for 2027, with the company valued at $852 billion. ChatGPT’s share of consumer product searches has risen from 2% to 30% over the past two years, which helps explain advertiser interest. Rival Anthropic has said its Claude chatbot will stay ad-free.
For Pakistani firms, the same expansion opens a path to promote products to a global weekly audience measured in the billions of sessions, through one platform.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Agar aap Pakistan mein ChatGPT free ya Go plan use karte hain, ab jawabon ke beech ads dikhengi. Plus, Pro ya Enterprise lete ho to ads nahi aayengi. Company kehti hai ke ads se jawab badlenge nahi. Business wale ab isi platform par bohot se logon tak apni ads bhej sakte hain.
