ChatGPT Ads are opening a new advertising opportunity in South Africa. Discover how they work, what makes them different and what brands should know.
Google Ads targets what people search for. Meta Ads targets what people are interested in. ChatGPT Ads introduce something different: advertising within the context of a conversation.
And for South African businesses, that could open up an entirely new way to reach potential customers. OpenAI has introduced advertising into ChatGPT, creating a paid opportunity for brands to appear alongside relevant AI-powered conversations.
Until now, businesses wanting visibility in ChatGPT have largely focused on organic discoverability through Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). Now, paid advertising adds another dimension.
But before everyone starts calling it the next Google Ads, let's look at what it actually means for marketers.
Unlike traditional search advertising, where ads are triggered primarily by search queries and keywords, ChatGPT Ads can be matched to the context of a user's conversation.
Imagine someone asking ChatGPT:
“What's the best skincare routine for sensitive skin?”
A relevant skincare brand could appear in a sponsored placement beneath the AI-generated response.
Or someone might ask:
"What should I look for when choosing a Shopify agency?"
That's the kind of conversation where a relevant ecommerce service provider could potentially reach a prospective customer.
The distinction is important.
Instead of targeting only what someone searches for, advertisers can reach people based on what they're actively trying to understand, solve or decide.
ChatGPT Ads are clearly labelled as sponsored and appear separately from ChatGPT's organic responses. OpenAI has also confirmed that advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT generates.
According to OpenAI, ads may appear for users on its Free and Go plans. Users on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans do not receive ads.
OpenAI has also outlined several important privacy protections:
This means businesses can reach audiences in relevant conversational contexts without receiving access to the conversations themselves.
Every major advertising platform has its own way of connecting businesses with potential customers.
Google Ads captures search intent. Meta Ads is powerful for audience discovery, interest-based targeting and demand generation.
ChatGPT introduces a different environment. People aren't necessarily scrolling through content or typing a short search phrase. They're asking detailed questions, comparing options, researching purchases and working through decisions.
For advertisers, that changes how we think about relevance. A business might not need to interrupt someone's attention. Instead, its advertising could appear when the user is already exploring a problem that the business can help solve. That's a compelling opportunity, particularly for brands selling products or services that require research and consideration before purchase.
But relevance alone doesn't guarantee results. Creative quality, landing page experience, campaign structure and conversion tracking will still matter.
International advertisers have already started experimenting with ChatGPT Ads, and some of the early observations are particularly interesting.
One agency, OneMetrik, has shared its experience of running a real campaign through OpenAI's Ads Manager.
Rather than relying on predictions about the future of AI advertising, the agency put actual budget behind a campaign to understand how the platform works.
Its early account of the experience highlights something worth paying attention to: the shift from keyword thinking to conversational context.
The familiar elements of paid media are still there, including campaigns, budgets, ad groups and creative.
But the strategic thinking is different.
On Google, advertisers spend considerable time identifying the keywords potential customers might search for.
With ChatGPT, the more interesting question becomes:
What conversation is someone having when our brand becomes relevant?
That's a different way to approach advertising strategy. And it's something we're particularly interested in exploring at Maverick.
While these early international experiments offer useful insight, it's still too soon to draw sweeping conclusions about conversion rates, acquisition costs or long-term return on ad spend. The opportunity is exciting. The performance data still needs to prove itself.
One of the biggest misconceptions about ChatGPT Ads is that paid placements will replace the need for organic AI visibility.
They won't.
In fact, we see paid ChatGPT advertising and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) as complementary strategies.
AEO focuses on helping your business become discoverable within AI-generated answers.
This involves creating useful, authoritative content, improving the clarity of your website and making it easier for AI-powered systems to understand your business, products and expertise.
ChatGPT Ads offer a paid route to visibility alongside relevant conversations.
One builds organic discoverability over time. The other offers a way to test paid exposure in a new environment. For businesses investing in their digital presence, the opportunity isn't necessarily to choose between the two.
It's to understand how they can work together.
And because OpenAI keeps sponsored placements separate from organic answers, paying for advertising does not guarantee that ChatGPT will recommend your business organically.
Our view? It's worth exploring early, but with a clear strategy.
Whenever a new advertising channel emerges, there's a temptation to move quickly simply because it's new. We've seen this with social platforms, new ad formats and emerging digital technologies. But being first doesn't automatically mean being profitable.
The real advantage comes from learning how a platform works before competition intensifies, understanding which audiences respond and identifying where it fits into your broader marketing strategy.
For South African businesses considering ChatGPT Ads, we'd recommend starting with a controlled test rather than shifting significant budget away from proven channels.
That means:
The goal shouldn't be to advertise on ChatGPT simply because you can. It should be to determine whether the channel can bring the right customers to your business at a sustainable cost.
At Maverick Marketing & Web, we've always believed that good digital marketing is about more than getting traffic. It's about getting the right traffic, creating better buying experiences and turning attention into measurable business results.
That's why ChatGPT Ads have our attention.
We're particularly interested in understanding how conversational advertising performs for South African ecommerce businesses, how it compares with established paid media channels and how it can complement organic AEO strategies.
We're also keen to explore what happens after the click. Because appearing in the right conversation is only half the job.
If someone clicks through to a slow, confusing or poorly optimised website, that opportunity can disappear just as quickly as it arrived.
A strong advertising strategy still needs a strong website behind it.
ChatGPT Ads represent an interesting development in digital advertising. They introduce a new opportunity to reach people while they're actively researching, comparing and making decisions. But they don't change the fundamentals of effective marketing. You still need to understand your customer, communicate a relevant offer, measure performance and make it easy for people to convert.
The platform might be new. The need for smart strategy isn't.
At Maverick Marketing & Web, we're keeping a close eye on this emerging channel and helping brands understand where AI advertising and organic AI discoverability fit into their digital marketing strategies.
Get in touch with Maverick to discuss a ChatGPT Ads test strategy for your business.
How we can help
Service
Builds and manages Google Ads – Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns – connecting the store to customers actively searching to buy.
Service
Optimises the store so search engines and AI platforms find, understand and surface the brand.
Service
Optimises the store to support active campaigns and improve conversion – landing pages, product flows, checkout and CTAs.
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