OpenAI began showing ads on ChatGPT in India on Thursday, targeting users on its free tier and its 399 rupee ($4) per month Go plan as the company works to build out its revenue base ahead of a planned 2027 IPO.
The company said it is launching with 50 brands and has partnered with agencies WPP and Omnicom for the rollout, according to TechCrunch. A self-serve ad manager is set to open on Sept. 4, allowing marketers to run their own campaigns with a daily minimum budget of ₹725 ($7.60), the company said. OpenAI told CNBC that ads would carry clear labels, appear beneath responses rather than alongside them, and remain visually distinct from content, and that "answer independence is non-negotiable."
"India is one of ChatGPT's largest and most active markets," an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC, describing the company's goal as gaining insight from both users and advertisers without undermining what has made ChatGPT valuable. According to TechCrunch, OpenAI disclosed in February that India accounts for more than 100 million of ChatGPT's weekly active users.
OpenAI has rolled the ad feature out to 38 countries in total — among them the United States, Japan, South Korea, and 31 nations across Europe, the company said. OpenAI started showing ads to U.S. users in February and expanded to Europe earlier this month.
OpenAI has invested heavily in building its presence in India. Among its moves: a sub-$5 Go plan debuted in August 2025, a limited-time promotion made that tier free for twelve months, and the company put marketing behind cricket properties including the Indian Premier League and Women's Premier League. The company also hired Uber's India head to lead its expansion in the country.
The India ad launch is part of a broader effort to diversify revenue as OpenAI prepares to go public. The company is tracking toward annualized revenue exceeding $40 billion, roughly twice its run rate at the end of 2025, and reported $6.7 billion in revenue for Q2 2026, a step up from $5.7 billion the quarter before. The company posted a net loss of $38.5 billion in 2025 on $13.07 billion in revenue.
OpenAI opened its self-serve Ads Manager to all U.S. businesses earlier this year after removing a $50,000 minimum spending requirement, and is targeting $2.5 billion in advertising revenue for the current year. The company does not show ads to users who are under 18 or predicted by its algorithm to be minors, it said.