From Clicks to Conversations: Why ChatGPT Ads Change the Rules of Influence

For the last twenty years, digital advertising has followed a familiar formula. Learn Google Ads. Master Facebook targeting. Optimize your way to clicks.

That model is breaking down. And a new one is evolving.

OpenAI’s announcement that it will begin testing ads inside ChatGPT is not just another platform update. It marks a deeper shift in how people find information, evaluate options, and decide what to trust.

And for organisations working across awareness, reputation, advocacy, and activation, that shift matters.

ChatGPT is not built for ads. That’s the point.

ChatGPT now has more than 800 million weekly active users. That alone makes it impossible to ignore. But the more important detail is how people use it.

Unlike search engines or social feeds, ChatGPT is not designed to interrupt. People come with questions. They stay for answers. They trust the system to help them think something through.

That changes the role advertising can play.

When ads appear inside a conversational environment, brands are no longer competing for attention. They are competing for credibility. The question is not “Did you click?” but “Did this help?”

For organisations facing rising costs and declining returns in traditional digital channels, this opens a rare opportunity. Spending more matters less. Being relevant matters more.

What’s actually changing with ChatGPT ads?

On January 16, 2026, OpenAI announced it would begin testing ads for users on its Free and Go tiers in the United States. The first phase introduces ads that appear at the end of a conversation and are matched to the context of the user’s question.

Ask for laptop recommendations and you may see an ad that aligns with what you are already trying to figure out.

Just as important is how OpenAI says the system will work.

The company has outlined five guiding principles for advertising: mission alignment, answer independence, conversation privacy, user control, and long-term value. Ads will not influence organic answers. User conversation data will not be sold.

In a digital ecosystem built on tracking and targeting, this is a meaningful departure.

Trust is not optional in conversational AI. If users lose confidence in the answers, they leave. Everything else depends on getting that right.

What this means for awareness, reputation, advocacy, and activation

At spark*advocacy, we think about communications as a continuum. Awareness feeds reputation. Reputation enables advocacy. Advocacy drives activation.

ChatGPT collapses these stages into a single environment.

Awareness now means being present when questions are asked, not just when ads are served. If your organisation does not exist in the AI’s reasoning layer, it may never enter the consideration set at all.

Reputation becomes foundational. ChatGPT does not repeat slogans. It draws from sources it deems credible. That means long-form content, clear positioning, and consistency over time matter more than ever.

Advocacy shows up as guidance. The organisations that succeed will be the ones that help people compare options, understand trade-offs, and feel confident in their decisions.

Activation becomes simpler and faster. When discovery and evaluation happen in one place, the biggest barrier to action is friction. Reduce it, and people move.

Conversational commerce and the shortened journey

OpenAI has already described a future where users can ask follow-up questions directly from an advertisement. Compare options. Clarify differences. Decide, all without leaving the conversation.

If that future holds, the traditional click to landing page to conversion funnel will shrink.

Instead of driving traffic elsewhere, organisations will need to bring product information, proof points, and support materials directly into the conversation.

For smaller organisations, this is not a disadvantage. It is an opening. Agility and clarity can outperform scale.

A practical playbook for organisations

Success in conversational advertising will not come from copying old digital habits.

A few starting points:

Establish authority first. ChatGPT reinforces credibility. It does not invent it. Organisations need high-quality content and clear expertise before advertising ever enters the picture.

Design for dialogue. Conversational ads are built around real questions and real concerns. This is about supporting decisions, not pushing clicks.

Rethink measurement. Last-click attribution misses most of the value in conversational environments. Influence shows up in trust, lead quality, and reduced friction over time.

The bigger shift

ChatGPT ads are not a one-off experiment. They reflect a broader move toward relationship-based communication built on relevance and trust.

Large organisations may be slow to adapt. Smaller ones can move faster, especially those already thinking holistically about awareness, reputation, advocacy, and activation.

The transition is already underway. The question is whether your organisation is showing up inside the conversations shaping decisions today or watching them happen from the sidelines.

At spark*, we pay close attention to these shifts because they create new opportunities to advocate, build trust, and activate support in ways that feel human.

If you are curious about what conversational advertising could mean for your organisation or how it fits into a broader communications and advocacy strategy, let’s talk.