Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
OpenAI’s latest move could have much bigger implications for digital marketing than it might first appear. ChatGPT is reportedly beginning to test cost-per-click, or CPC, advertising, shifting part of its model away from simple ad visibility and towards measurable performance.
That matters because it pushes ChatGPT closer to the territory traditionally dominated by Google. Instead of being seen only as an AI assistant or an experimental branding space, it starts to look more like a genuine performance marketing channel.
For marketers, this is another sign that the platforms shaping search, discovery and digital advertising are continuing to blur together.
What is changing?
Up to now, much of the conversation around advertising in ChatGPT has centred on visibility and impressions. The introduction of CPC ads changes that dynamic. It means advertisers may be able to pay when someone actually clicks, rather than simply when an ad is shown.
That is a major shift in mindset. Impression-based advertising is often useful for awareness, but CPC pricing brings the conversation much closer to ROI, lead generation and commercial performance. In simple terms, it makes ChatGPT feel more like a channel marketers can compare directly with established search and paid media platforms.
Why this matters more than it might seem
The important part here is not just the pricing model itself. It is what the pricing model says about where OpenAI sees ChatGPT going next.
CPC advertising is strongly associated with performance marketing. It is built around the idea that advertisers want to pay for action, not just presence. Google has dominated that world for years because search behaviour often carries very clear intent. People type in what they want, click on a result, and frequently go on to buy, enquire or convert.
By moving towards CPC, ChatGPT is stepping into that same conversation. It suggests OpenAI wants advertisers to view the platform as a place where commercial outcomes can happen, not just brand exposure.
That gives this change a wider significance. It is not merely a product tweak. It is a strategic signal.
What marketers should be thinking about
For most marketers, the big question will not be whether CPC ads exist in ChatGPT. It will be whether the clicks are actually valuable.
That is where the comparison with Google becomes important. Search advertising works well because users often reveal strong intent. Someone searching for a service, a product or a solution is already partway down the decision-making path. ChatGPT will need to prove that conversational interactions can create similarly meaningful opportunities.
That means marketers should be thinking about things like:
- how intent shows up in AI conversations
- whether ChatGPT users are in research mode, decision mode or simply exploring
- how click quality compares with traditional paid search traffic
- whether conversions justify the cost
This is where early testing could become very valuable. Brands that get in early may be able to learn quickly, before competition increases and costs rise.
Could this become a real rival to Google?
Google’s strength has always been its ability to monetise intent at scale. That is not easy to replicate. ChatGPT may have rich conversational context, but advertisers will want evidence that this context can produce commercially useful clicks, not just curiosity.
Still, the direction of travel is clear. If ChatGPT develops stronger ad infrastructure, better measurement tools and broader self-serve ad capabilities, it becomes much easier to see how marketing budgets could begin shifting in its direction.
In other words, this is not yet a replacement for Google Search advertising, but it could become a more serious challenger for parts of the same budget.
What should brands do next?
Most brands do not need to rush blindly into this. But they should pay attention.
A sensible response would be to:
- watch how OpenAI develops its ad platform
- assess whether ChatGPT fits your audience and customer journey
- compare any future test results carefully against Google and other paid channels
- treat this as an emerging performance opportunity, not just a novelty
For marketing leaders, the real value right now is awareness. The advertising landscape is shifting again, and this looks like one of those moments that may seem small at first but become more important very quickly.
Final thoughts
OpenAI’s move towards CPC ads in ChatGPT is about much more than pricing. It is a sign that ChatGPT is evolving into a more commercially ambitious advertising platform, one that may increasingly compete for the same performance budgets that have long flowed into search.
For marketers, the takeaway is simple. ChatGPT is no longer just a tool people use to ask questions. It is beginning to look like a channel where intent, clicks and ROI may start to matter in a much bigger way.
That does not mean Google is suddenly in trouble. But it does mean the competitive shape of digital advertising is continuing to change, and marketers would be wise to keep watching.
