Amazon Opens ChatGPT Ads to Its Advertisers Through New OpenAI Partnership

Amazon Advertisers Gain Access to ChatGPT Ads Through New Pilot Program

Amazon has partnered with OpenAI to enable select US brands to run ChatGPT ads through its advertising platform, marking a strategic shift for the e-commerce giant1

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. The pilot program allows Amazon advertisers to extend their campaigns into conversational ad formats on ChatGPT, where 900 million weekly active users engage with the AI chatbot2

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. Delta Vacations is among the first brands testing this new approach, with president Katrin Koenig stating the company would leverage deep consumer insights to determine how and when Delta Vacations appears in ChatGPT ads2

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Chris Conetta, director of omnichannel supply at Amazon DSP, emphasized that conversational ad formats represent the fastest growing engagement opportunity for brands to reach audiences1

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. Through Amazon's demand-side platform, advertisers can now extend campaigns to where customers actively spend time in AI-driven conversational platforms3

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. The partnership signals Amazon's recognition that ChatGPT has become an important marketing channel for brands seeking consumer engagement.

How the OpenAI Partnership Works for Amazon's Ad Platform

Brands purchase placements through Amazon DSP, Amazon's demand-side platform for programmatic ads, without dealing directly with OpenAI2

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. Amazon sets up and manages the campaigns, while OpenAI's ad system controls all ad delivery decisions1

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. Advertisers can pay per click or per thousand impressions, with ad units appearing as text or images beneath ChatGPT responses2

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The ads sit below the end of a response and are clearly labeled as sponsored content2

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. For example, a user asking ChatGPT for marathon training tips could see an ad for running shoes sold on Amazon2

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. Amazon Ads sells programmatic advertising across Amazon's properties and the open internet, drawing on trillions of proprietary browsing, shopping, and streaming signals to deliver results without relying on ad identifiers2

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Amazon's Strategic Shift on AI-Driven Marketing Channels

This partnership represents a significant turn for Amazon, which had heavily restricted access to its sprawling webstore from AI platforms like ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini while investing in its own AI shopping tools1

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. However, Amazon began quietly buying ads on ChatGPT in recent months, becoming the top retail advertiser on the platform between April and August according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower1

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By opening ChatGPT's ad inventory to its broader advertiser base, Amazon is acknowledging that the AI chatbot has become a significant marketing channel for brands3

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. The move comes as OpenAI's advertising business reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate, having started selling sponsored placements in ChatGPT in the US in February with retailers like Best Buy and Williams-Sonoma1

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. Amazon's ad business is far larger, described as the third-largest digital advertising business with approximately $70 billion in annual ad revenue2

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Implications for Advertising Strategies in AI-Driven Conversational Platforms

Until now, advertisers bought ChatGPT ads through OpenAI's own interface or through smaller ad-tech partners such as Criteo and Kargo2

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. The Amazon partnership provides a streamlined path for brands already using Amazon's ad platform to extend their reach into AI-driven marketing channels. OpenAI announced in August that it would bring ChatGPT ads to 31 European markets, expanding beyond its initial US launch2

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The two companies already have financial ties, with Amazon agreeing in February to invest $50 billion in OpenAI, starting with $15 billion and completing a second tranche of $35 billion dependent on conditions being met2

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. Under the same partnership, OpenAI's offerings became available through Amazon's Bedrock cloud service and would use its Trainium chips2

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. As conversational AI continues reshaping how consumers discover and purchase products, brands should monitor how the ad placement system performs and whether Amazon expands the pilot program beyond select US advertisers.