OpenAI is taking advertising in ChatGPT to a much wider audience. On 21 October 2026 the company said it was adding 26 countries to ChatGPT Ads, bringing the total to 89, and that more than 100,000 advertisers have run campaigns since ads launched a little over eight months ago.
Where ads are arriving
OpenAI's announcement names only some of the new markets. Based on the company's post and Reuters' reporting, they include:
- 14 more Latin American countries, among them Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, following earlier launches in Mexico and Brazil.
- Nigeria and South Africa.
- Serbia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
That accounts for 11 of the 26 countries named in the coverage. The remaining 15 have not been identified, and no start dates have been given for individual markets. For readers in Africa, Nigeria and South Africa are the only African countries confirmed so far.
Who sees the ads, and who pays
Ads appear only on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscribers keep an ad-free product. OpenAI says ads are clearly labelled and kept separate from ChatGPT's answers, that advertising does not influence what ChatGPT says, and that it keeps conversations private from advertisers and does not sell customer data.
In the new countries, advertisers can buy through technology partners or through self-service access in OpenAI's Ads Manager. OpenAI frames the model as a way to support free and low-cost access to ChatGPT, which matters in markets where many users rely on the free tier.
What the numbers do and do not say
The 100,000 figure is a cumulative count of every advertiser that has ever run a campaign. It does not say how many are advertising now or how much they spend. For context, The Information reported about 20,000 advertisers in late August, and OpenAI said in the summer that its ads business had reached an annualised revenue run rate of $1 billion.
Reuters framed the expansion as part of OpenAI's push to grow advertising revenue ahead of a potential initial public offering. OpenAI also says it is working on additional ad formats, objectives, buying options and measurement tools.
Why it matters
For businesses in Lagos, Johannesburg and other new markets, ChatGPT is becoming a place to reach customers while they research products. For users on free plans, it means ads will now show up in a tool many use daily. Whether local advertisers, and which partners, are ready to buy in these markets is something OpenAI has not yet detailed.
Sources: OpenAI announcement (21 October 2026); Reuters; The Next Web.
