OpenAI’s ads business hits Europe at the six month mark

OpenAI will begin serving ads to people using ChatGPT across 31 European markets on Monday (August 24), including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

The timing lands at the six month mark for OpenAI’s ads business. What started as a U.S. pilot in February has already moved through Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea. Europe was always going to be slower. Regulation there (namely the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR) requires explicit consent for personalized targeting unless a company can prove a legitimate interest to do otherwise, which is a hard case to make. 

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“We’re especially excited to bring ChatGPT Ads to Europe as we hit the six month milestone for our global ads business,” said Dave Dugan, vp of ads at OpenAI, said in a statement. “There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all European audience — and that’s precisely what makes the region so dynamic. Europe is home to some of the world’s most creative and sophisticated advertising markets, where expectations around relevance, quality and trust are rightly high. We look forward to meeting that bar.”