OpenAI has announced the expansion of ChatGPT Ads to Southeast Asia and Taiwan, bringing the advertising channel to over 60 countries worldwide. If your company serves customers in that geographic area, you now have a concrete option to consider alongside Google and Meta.
It's not about replacing existing channels. It's about understanding if there's an audience that already uses ChatGPT to search for products or services like yours, and if reaching them costs less or better than what you're already doing. The answer depends on your industry, your customer type, and how much presence you already have in those markets.
In the coming days, the most useful thing is to check if your company is among those eligible, analyze the overlap with active Google and Meta campaigns, and decide if a limited-budget test makes sense before allocating significant resources.
What happened and why it also concerns those who sell in Asia
OpenAI has announced the expansion of ChatGPT Ads in Southeast Asia and Taiwan , expanding its advertising channel coverage to over 60 countries. Southeast Asia includes markets like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore: economies with a rapidly growing digital user base and rapid adoption of AI tools.
For an Italian SME or mid-market company that exports or has distributors in that area, this is not a technical update to file away. It's a new touchpoint with potential customers who use ChatGPT as a search engine and purchasing advisor.
How ChatGPT Ads works, in brief
ChatGPT Ads are not a banner. Ads appear within conversations when the user asks questions relevant to the product or service you promote. The most relevant format for lead generation is the click-to-chat : the user interacts with the ad directly in the chat, without leaving ChatGPT. If you want to understand how this mechanism works in detail, the article on ChatGPT Ads click-to-chat and conversion without site traffic explains the operational implications well.
The channel fits into a rapidly changing ecosystem. Amazon, for example, has already launched a pilot to showcase its products within ChatGPT: if you want to understand how commerce is moving on this channel, it's worth reading the analysis on Amazon Ads on ChatGPT and what changes for those who sell online .
Who this expansion is for — and who it's not for
It makes sense to consider it if:
- you already have customers or distributors in Southeast Asia or Taiwan;
- you sell products or services that people actively search for on ChatGPT (B2B software, consulting, training, technical products);
- you have a team or agency capable of managing a test on a new channel without taking resources away from campaigns that already convert.
It doesn't make sense if:
- you have no commercial presence in that geographic area;
- your product is strictly local and has no international demand;
- you haven't optimized campaigns on the main channels yet — Google and Meta remain priorities, and adding a third channel before having those under control is a classic mistake.
Three concrete steps for the coming days
1. Check eligibility. Not all companies have immediate access to ChatGPT Ads. Check OpenAI's website to see if your product category and billing country are among those allowed.
2. Analyze the overlap with existing campaigns. Before activating a new channel, look at where you're already spending in Asia. If you have active Google Ads campaigns in those markets, study the keywords that convert best: they are a starting point for understanding which intents to capture on ChatGPT as well. The article on how to stay in control when Google and Meta automate offers a useful framework for thinking about multi-channel governance.
3. Set up a limited budget test. If eligibility exists and the audience makes sense, start with a small budget and measurable goals: cost per lead, cost per click, conversion rate from the chat. Don't compare immediately with Google or Meta — the benchmarks are different and the channel is new. Give it at least four weeks before drawing conclusions.
A warning: each new channel has costs that don't appear in the CPC (cost per click). Creative, management, analysis time. Before deciding, read the analysis on Hidden costs of AI in marketing : helps to do the math more honestly.
The mistake not to make with a new channel
The biggest risk isn't testing ChatGPT Ads. It's testing it without a clear measurement structure and then abandoning it after two weeks because "it didn't work," without understanding why.
First, define what you measure. Then activate. Then read the data. This applies to ChatGPT Ads just as it applies to any other channel in your mix of paid media .
If you already have Christmas campaigns planned for international markets, it might be worth integrating this evaluation into the process: the Meta playbook for 2026 holiday campaigns gives an idea of how to structure seasonal planning across multiple channels.
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