ChatGPT ads to expand to 31 European countries next week

European users on ChatGPT's free tier are expected to start seeing ad banners below responses starting next week. AI news account TestingCatalog reported that OpenAI plans to expand its ChatGPT ad platform to 31 European countries.

Ads attached below responses

ChatGPT is a conversational AI service built and operated directly by OpenAI. Following the rollout sequence OpenAI has previously announced, ads began in February this year for adult users on the Free and low-cost Go plans in the US, expanded to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in March, and then rolled out on August 11 to the UK, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea. This latest expansion extends that same exposure format across Europe. Reportedly, the ads don't interrupt the response text itself but instead appear as a separate widget following the completed answer. Since the response text and ad space are kept separate, the structure reportedly doesn't disrupt the flow of conversation itself.

31 European countries — which ones first?

Well-connected IT follower Tibor Blaho cited an OpenAI announcement, saying "ChatGPT ads will expand to 31 European countries next week." The disclosed list named 9 countries: Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria. The specific names of the remaining 22 countries were not included in this source.

Confirmed countries	Notes
Germany, France, Spain, Italy	Major European markets
Sweden, Norway, Denmark	Three Nordic countries
Netherlands, Austria	Western/Central Europe
Remaining 22 countries	List not disclosed

Who sees the ads, and who doesn't

The target audience is reportedly limited to the Free and Go plans. This source makes no mention of Plus or higher paid-tier users. Given that ads only appear as a widget below responses, it appears OpenAI is aiming to capture ad revenue from its non-paying user base.

A door opening for advertisers too

TestingCatalog added that advertisers are also expected to gain access to ChatGPT's Ads platform alongside this expansion. However, this source does not detail the specific process by which advertisers would purchase ad space or set up targeting.

ChatGPT has recently rolled out a string of other features as well, including automatic quiz generation from conversations and Google Drive integration.

Editor's view

Putting ads in front of free users isn't a new idea. YouTube and Spotify both grew their valuations by showing ads in exchange for free access. ChatGPT taking the same path suggests it has reached a point where its free-user base can generate more revenue through ads than through conversion to paid plans. What stands out is that this experiment, which began in the US in February, is now being expanded all at once to 31 European countries. Rolling it out continent-wide rather than country by country suggests OpenAI has already found a workable balance internally between ad exposure and user churn.

Traditional search ads had a natural slot between the search query and results, but conversational AI has no such gap. That's why OpenAI chose to attach a separate widget below the response. Mixing ad copy into the conversation itself would erode trust, but keeping it as a separate block after the answer ends means the chatbot's conversational quality stays untouched while the ad space is still monetized. Still, this boundary is at its widest right now. As the free-user base grows, the incentive to experiment more aggressively with ad placement and format will only increase.

Domestically, Korea isn't "next in line" for this trend — it's already inside it. South Korea was part of the first wave of overseas expansion where ads went live on August 11, alongside the UK, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan, and domestic users on the Free and Go plans are already encountering sponsored widgets below responses. In the sequence running from the US (February) to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (March), Asia and Latin America (August), and now continental Europe (next week), Korea ended up ahead of major European markets — meaning OpenAI judged Korea to be an ad market that would show results early. So this European expansion isn't news to domestic users so much as a validation signal: since ad exposure in the first wave, which included Korea, didn't drive user churn, OpenAI is now scaling the rollout to a continental level. For domestic advertisers, one step still remains. Since access to the advertiser-facing Ads platform is expanding alongside this rollout, now — before performance data on this conversational ad space accumulates across the market — is the window to experiment first.