The ChatGPT Advertising Era Begins: What a $60 CPM Means for the Digital Ad Ecosystem

DEEP DIVE  |  AD-TECH · AI PLATFORM · STREAMING ECONOMY

OpenAI’s monetization experiment, Perplexity’s ad pause, falling streaming CPMs — from conversational AI ads to Netflix, reading the future of platform economics through CPM comparisons

Executive Summary

OpenAI is officially bringing advertising to ChatGPT. Ahead of an early February 2026 beta launch, the company has been pitching dozens of advertisers across retail, streaming, and internet verticals with minimum commitments starting at $200,000 (and up to under $1 million), pricing impressions at a premium CPM of $60. This rivals the $65 CPM that Netflix set when it first entered the ad market in 2022.

Yet when viewed alongside Netflix’s cautionary precedent—where oversupply slashed CPMs from $65 to below $30 in just two to three years—Perplexity’s decision to pause new advertising deals due to absent measurement infrastructure, and media buyers’ forecasts of further streaming CPM declines, the durability of ChatGPT’s $60 price tag demands careful scrutiny.

ADWEEK’s Mark Ritson called it “a last resort.” OpenAI itself used the same phrase in 2024. But with $20 billion in 2025 revenue still requiring a tenfold increase to reach profitability, advertising is no longer optional—it is existential.

1. ChatGPT Ad Beta: Core Structure

ChatGPT is not entering advertising as an ad-tech experiment—it launched as a premium ad product from day one. According to ADWEEK, even in beta, OpenAI set the official floor at a $60 CPM and a $200,000 minimum commitment, effectively demanding Netflix-tier pricing out of the gate. In practice, deal tables show the minimum adjusted between $100K and $250K depending on the advertiser’s scale and strategic importance—a blend of rigid rate cards and selective flexibility.

ChatGPT Ad Beta: Key Metrics (ADWEEK + The Information Cross-Analysis)

The advertising operation is led by Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications—formerly CEO of Instacart and a senior Facebook ads executive—with Apps CTO Vijaye Raji and ChatGPT Head Nick Turley overseeing the ad and commerce product stack. The Information describes the rollout as “tightly managed,” with OpenAI deliberately limiting scale to test which ad formats and contexts deliver value without degrading user experience.

Industry response can be summarized as “strong interest, cautious action.” According to The Information, media buyers from five major agencies attempted to engage OpenAI before the official announcement but received no response until the beta structure was finalized—a sign that OpenAI is being extremely selective with initial partners. The agency consensus: Q1 will be test budgets; scale decisions come in Q2 based on performance.

2. Why Now: OpenAI’s Survival Equation

ChatGPT’s advertising push is not a new growth option—it is closer to a survival strategy. According to The Information and WSJ, OpenAI has already deployed billions in compute infrastructure, and including long-term computing and data center contracts with Microsoft and NVIDIA, is pursuing up to $100 billion in additional capital over the coming years. With a Q4 2026 IPO plan taking shape and Amazon discussed as a potential $50 billion strategic partner, the pressure to diversify revenue beyond subscription fees is intensifying.

In parallel, OpenAI has reportedly presented investors with aggressive targets for non-subscription revenue—advertising and shopping combined—of approximately $2 billion in 2026 and $11 billion in 2027. A roadmap that envisions growing non-subscription revenue more than fivefold in a single year signals that ChatGPT advertising is being positioned not as a supplementary income stream but as a core structural pillar of the business.

2-1. Deutsche Bank’s Warning: $143 Billion in Cumulative Losses

In ADWEEK’s MiniMBA, Mark Ritson cited WSJ and Deutsche Bank data to lay bare OpenAI’s financial reality. OpenAI grew revenue to approximately $20 billion in 2025—a tenfold increase in two years—but 2026 revenue is projected at roughly $30 billion, still vastly insufficient to cover infrastructure and R&D expenditures.

Deutsche Bank estimates that under the current cost structure, OpenAI would need annual revenue of at least $200 billion—ten times its current level—to achieve sustained profitability. Cumulative losses from 2024 to 2029 could reach $143 billion. Cash reserves stand at approximately $17 billion, and without additional major funding, operations beyond 2027 would be challenging.

OpenAI Financial Overview (WSJ + ADWEEK MiniMBA Cross-Reference)

Deutsche Bank warned: “No startup in history has ever operated at this scale of losses. We are in completely uncharted territory.” Ritson noted that even Amazon’s legendary early-stage burn rate “looks like a rounding error” next to OpenAI’s infrastructure commitments.

2-2. The IPO Race: OpenAI vs. Anthropic

According to WSJ, OpenAI is targeting a Q4 2026 IPO and has begun informal discussions with major Wall Street investment banks. Competitor Anthropic is also exploring an IPO on a similar timeline, setting up a race to capture public market attention and capital first.

Anthropic aims for breakeven by 2028, while many scenarios place OpenAI’s profitability at 2030 or beyond. ChatGPT ad performance will serve as a critical signal of market confidence in whether OpenAI can sustain its high-cost structure long enough to reach profitability.

OpenAI vs. Anthropic: IPO Competition (WSJ-Based)

2-3. The Fundraising Battle: Amazon $50B, SoftBank $30B

WSJ reported that Amazon is in discussions to invest up to $50 billion in OpenAI, building on an existing $38 billion AWS computing contract. SoftBank is reviewing up to $30 billion in additional investment, and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are also exploring participation. In total, OpenAI is pursuing over $100 billion in pre-IPO funding at an $830 billion valuation target.

Notably, Amazon is hedging its bets: it has already invested $8 billion in competitor Anthropic and is building an $11 billion Anthropic-dedicated data center in Indiana. This dual-bet strategy signals that the AI infrastructure and model layer will be the defining battleground across cloud, advertising, and commerce for the next decade.

2-4. The Fundamental Gap vs. Google: Ritson’s Analysis

The sharpest insight in Ritson’s analysis is the structural comparison with Google. He noted that Warren Buffett invested $4 billion in Alphabet (Google’s parent) through Berkshire Hathaway in late 2025, commenting: “The reason Buffett chose Google is that Google has something OpenAI doesn’t—a clear path to revenue.”

OpenAI vs. Google: Fundamental Structural Comparison (Ritson Analysis)

Ritson analyzed OpenAI’s four growth paths—market expansion, price increases, product diversification (Sora, Atlas, Jony Ive hardware), and advertising—and concluded that “none of them is sufficient on its own.” Market expansion compounds computing costs; price increases are difficult at a 5% paid conversion rate; product diversification raises R&D expenses; and advertising is “the last resort.” His verdict on OpenAI’s Super Bowl LX ad strategy: “Desperate.”

3. CPM Deep Dive: Is ChatGPT’s $60 Expensive—or Expensive?

To read the significance of ChatGPT’s $60 CPM, it must be placed on the full board of digital advertising and assessed in relative terms. The streaming industry’s CPM decline between 2024 and 2025 is the essential backdrop for gauging just how aggressive ChatGPT’s premium pricing strategy really is.

3-1. Cross-Platform CPM Comparison

2026 Cross-Platform Ad CPM Comparison (Industry Analysis)

3-2. The Netflix Lesson: CPM $65 → Below $30

Netflix is the most direct comparison for ChatGPT’s $60 CPM. When Netflix launched its ad tier in 2022, it entered with a $65 CPM—positioning itself as “premium viewers in a premium content environment.”

According to ADWEEK’s Saleah Blancaflor (April 2025), Netflix CPMs have since fallen below $30—cut in half within two to three years. The cause is clear: supply surged when Amazon Prime Video and others launched ad tiers, flooding the market with inventory. During the 2024 upfronts, streaming CPM discounts ranged from 15% to 45%. One buyer described it as “an arms race where most players want more volume.”

The sole exception to the CPM decline is live sports. NFL regular season viewership fell 2.2%, yet CPMs rose in the mid-to-high single digits—proof that “appointment viewing” commands a premium in a fragmented market. Women’s sports, college sports, and soccer (boosted by the 2026 World Cup) are also expected to see CPM increases.

3-3. ChatGPT $60 CPM Positioning

ChatGPT’s $60 CPM represents a “scarcity premium,” comparable to Netflix’s launch pricing and live sports. But as the Netflix precedent demonstrates, price erosion is inevitable when supply expands. For ChatGPT to sustain this premium, it must prove that conversational context is an irreplaceable advertising environment—not just a novelty.

4. Perplexity’s Cautionary Tale: The AI Ad Monetization Trap

A closer examination of ADWEEK’s reporting reveals that Perplexity’s problems went far beyond “advertisers didn’t show up.” The platform fundamentally lacked the infrastructure to function as an advertising platform.

First, measurement infrastructure was absent. Perplexity could not deliver CTR, conversion rate, or ROAS metrics at the level advertisers expect from Google, Meta, or Amazon. Anonymous buyers told ADWEEK: “If you can’t properly measure performance, it’s hard to allocate even test budgets.”

Second, the publisher revenue-sharing model failed to deliver. Perplexity’s publisher program promised to share ad revenue with media partners, but participating outlets reported “practically no meaningful income.” Traffic was consumed within Perplexity’s AI answers rather than flowing to publisher websites, leaving partners with neither traffic gains nor revenue.

Third, the numbers tell the story. ADWEEK reported that Perplexity’s 2024 total revenue was approximately $34 million, of which advertising generated just $20,000—a mere 0.06% of total revenue. The ad sales chief, Taz Patel, departed in August 2025.

Perplexity Ad Business: Failure Factor Analysis

4-1. How ChatGPT Differs from Perplexity

ChatGPT vs. Perplexity: Ad Business Comparison

The fundamental limit exposed by Perplexity was a lack of scale. ChatGPT surpasses Perplexity on all three critical dimensions—user base, organizational capability, and technical infrastructure. However, the structural risk that “advertisers leave if performance isn’t proven” applies equally regardless of scale.

A noteworthy insight comes from Perplexity’s publisher partnerships head Jessica Chan, who noted that “many advertisers are reallocating budgets from performance-driven search ads toward top-of-funnel brand awareness strategies.” Paradoxically, this could be an opportunity for ChatGPT: if conversational AI proves its strength in brand storytelling and awareness—rather than clicks and conversions—the $60 CPM model could be defended on grounds of “brand reach and contextual premium.”

5. Beyond Ads: The Rise of the ChatGPT Commerce Ecosystem

ChatGPT’s monetization strategy extends far beyond display advertising. According to The Information, OpenAI is rapidly assembling a commerce ecosystem that integrates shopping, payments, and app functionality around ChatGPT—a fundamentally different approach from Perplexity’s ad-only bet.

ChatGPT Commerce & Service Partnership Landscape

This structure suggests ChatGPT is no longer just a chatbot that answers questions—it is evolving into an AI-powered super app that bundles search, shopping, payments, and content consumption into a single interface. Advertising is just one revenue layer within this super app; commerce conversions and platform fees for third-party integrations form a multi-layered revenue architecture.

Data cited by The Information supports this vision: users who completed pre-research via AI before visiting websites showed higher purchase conversion rates, even though overall traffic volume declined. ChatGPT’s ability to curate and narrow options at the top of the funnel improves the “quality” of traffic flowing to advertisers and commerce partners—a compelling data point for both CPM-based advertising and conversion-based commerce partnerships.

6. Implications for K-Content & K-Entertainment tech

① FAST Channels & K-Content: A New Global Promotion Channel

OpenAI’s designation of streaming and entertainment brands as a core ad category is a critical signal for K-content. As conversational AI platforms become the first gateway for content discovery—“recommend me a Korean drama,” “what K-content should I watch?”—simply placing K-content on Netflix, Disney+, or YouTube is no longer sufficient. Strategy must extend to how K-dramas, K-variety shows, and K-FAST channels appear within ChatGPT when those questions are asked.

With streaming CPMs falling below $30, ChatGPT’s $60 CPM is better understood not as a volume channel but as a precision premium slot for targeted audiences. K-content companies should consider a two-track media strategy: streaming/FAST (CPM $10–30) for reach and volume, paired with ChatGPT advertising (CPM $60) for high-value targeting and premium launch campaigns.

② K-Brand Integration into the ChatGPT Commerce Ecosystem

With DoorDash, Walmart, Shopify, Spotify, and Zillow already integrated into ChatGPT, K-brands now have a realistic path into the conversational commerce layer. Imagine K-beauty products appearing naturally when a user asks for skincare routine recommendations, or K-food meal kits becoming instantly purchasable within a recipe conversation. Through Shopify integration, ChatGPT could function as a new global D2C channel for K-brands—a viable alternative to Amazon or Coupang dependency.

③ A Global Niche for AI Ad Measurement Startups

Perplexity’s failure and ChatGPT’s measurement gaps paradoxically create opportunity. The core reason Perplexity paused ads—an inability to measure CTR, conversions, and ROAS at platform standard—means immediate demand exists for AI conversation-context ad measurement, brand safety monitoring, conversational conversion tracking, and self-serve ad buying platforms.

Korean AI and ad-tech startups can target this global niche. Programs like K-Nevada Gateway offer pathways for Korean startups to enter the U.S. market with products like “AI conversational ad measurement engines” or “AI search branded content safety modules”—solutions that directly address the measurement vacuum that Perplexity exposed.

④ K-Content Ad Budget Strategy from the CPM Landscape

The CPM landscape clarifies where K-content companies should allocate budgets. Streaming ads (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video) average below $30 CPM; cable TV sits at $8–15; social platforms (Meta, TikTok) trade at $5–15. ChatGPT commands $60, and live sports $40–80+.

A practical multi-channel allocation would designate streaming/FAST and social (70–80% of budget) as the volume base, ChatGPT advertising (CPM $60) as a concentrated premium complement for tentpole launches and global fandom targeting, and premium live sports inventory (CPM $40–80+) for event-driven content such as the World Cup, K-pop concert streams, and esports.

⑤ K-FAST Global Showcase

ChatGPT advertising and AI commerce should no longer be isolated conference sessions—they belong at the strategic center of international events like the K-FAST Global Showcase. Picture panels in New York, LA, and Singapore convening Netflix, Amazon, Samsung TV Plus, OpenAI, and Meta to discuss “CPM economics and AI conversational ad strategy,” alongside dedicated pitch tracks where Korean ad-tech and AI startups present solutions that fill the measurement gap Perplexity left behind.

7. Conclusion: Reading the Future of Platform Economics Through CPM

CPM is not just an ad price. It is a compressed measure of platform value, audience attention quality, and the irreplaceability of an advertising environment.

Netflix’s CPM decline from $65 to below $30 demonstrates how quickly oversupply destroys a premium. Perplexity’s ad pause proves how difficult monetization is for an AI platform without scale. Live sports’ rising CPMs confirm that only “irreplaceable context” sustains pricing power.

ChatGPT stands at the intersection of all these lessons: 900 million users (scale), conversational context (irreplaceability), a DoorDash/Shopify commerce ecosystem (revenue diversification), and the urgency of an approaching IPO (execution pressure).

Yet absent measurement infrastructure, opaque ad triggers, and no self-serve buying platform are the exact same traps Perplexity fell into. As Adthena CEO Philip Thune noted, “OpenAI hasn’t been clear about measurement metrics or what triggers an ad.” Whether ChatGPT can avoid these traps will determine the sustainability of the $60 CPM.

Just as the iPhone redefined the rules of the smartphone industry, ChatGPT’s advertising business has the potential to reshape digital advertising. After the waves of search advertising, social media advertising, and retail media, a fourth wave—AI conversational advertising—is beginning to form.

For those of us in the K-content and K-EnterTech ecosystem, this is both risk and opportunity. The time to read the future of platform economics through the lens of CPM—and to proactively build AI platform advertising and commerce partnerships, nurture ad-tech startups, and design global market entry strategies—is now.

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Sources & Methodology

This analysis was compiled through cross-referencing seven primary sources:

① ADWEEK, Trishla Ostwal — “OpenAI Confirms $200,000 Minimum Commitment for ChatGPT Ads” (Jan 31, 2026)

② The Information, Catherine Perloff & Sri Muppidi — “OpenAI Lines Up Advertisers, Reveals Key Details” (Jan 20, 2026)

③ ADWEEK, Trishla Ostwal — “Perplexity Pauses New Advertising Deals to Reassess Ambitions” (Oct 9, 2025)

④ ADWEEK, Saleah Blancaflor — “Streaming CPMs Expected to Fall Again in TV Upfront” (Apr 1, 2025)

⑤ ADWEEK MiniMBA, Mark Ritson — “OpenAI’s Ad Offering Is a Last Resort…” (Jan 22, 2026)

⑥ WSJ — OpenAI IPO, Amazon investment, and financial reporting (multiple dates, 2025–2026)

⑦ Deutsche Bank — OpenAI financial analysis and loss projections (cited via ADWEEK MiniMBA)

K-content and K-EnterTech industry analysis has been added on top of the factual reporting from original sources.

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