GuidesAugust 20, 20268 min read

How to advertise in ChatGPT

ChatGPT advertising reaches Portugal on 24 August 2026, along with the rest of the EEA and Switzerland. What changes for whoever sees it, what can be bought today and what cannot yet, and what to do this week so as not to arrive late.

On 24 August 2026 ChatGPT advertising reaches 31 European markets, Portugal included. This article was written four days before, and carefully distinguishes two things that will be confused everywhere: advertising starting to appear to European users, and European advertisers being able to buy it. They are not the same date.

The facts, with dates

Fact	Value
Start date in Europe	24 August 2026
Reach	31 markets: the European Economic Area and Switzerland
Where they appear	The Free and Go plans
Where they do not appear	Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education
Format	Below the answer, visually separated and identified as sponsored
Personalisation	None at launch: only the conversation topic, general location and device type
History	A US pilot in February 2026, then Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and South Korea

Sources: OpenAI's announcement to European users on 15 August 2026, and coverage by Digiday, Dataconomy and TechXplore, 19 August 2026.

What to do this week

01 · Understand that seeing is not buying

We went to the end of the registration process on 20 August 2026, and it is worth knowing where it stops. The form accepts everything: country Portugal, currency EUR, Lisbon time zone, advertiser type. Only on the next screen does the wall appear, in these words: the Ads Manager is not yet available in your country. So from 24 August Portuguese users see advertising, and Portuguese advertisers still cannot buy it. Counting on buyable inventory that day is the fastest way to end up in trouble with a client.

02 · Understand that the account is always the client's

An agency cannot create the advertiser account on a client's behalf. The registration screen says so in plain words: the client creates their own account and then adds the agency team. In practice it is the model already used in Google and Meta, and it is better for whoever is hiring: the account, the history and the data stay on the side of whoever pays, and if the relationship ends there is nothing to reclaim.

03 · Buy the AI inventory that already exists

While ChatGPT does not open, there is AI inventory buyable in Portugal today, and almost nobody knows it: Google's ads enter AI Overviews and AI Mode automatically from the Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns that already exist. There is no separate campaign and no option to turn it on, which also means there is no way to opt out. Whoever has Google Ads running is already advertising inside AI answers, knowingly or not.

04 · Separate the two columns before the paid one starts

This is the step nobody takes and the one that decides whether the next few months' reports are worth anything. Measure now, before there is any paid, in which questions the brand appears in an earned way. Without that baseline, in three months you will not be able to say whether the advertising added reach or whether you are paying for questions you were already winning for free.

05 · Decide whether your buyer is on the plans with advertising

The ads only appear on the Free and Go plans. If you sell to developers, to engineering teams or to companies with a paid subscription, a good part of your audience is on plans without advertising, and the money goes further on earned presence. If you sell to consumers or to small businesses, the audience is on the side where the ads will appear. The answer changes with the business and is worth thinking through before there is a budget on the table.

The mistake that will cost money

Plenty of people will turn up selling ChatGPT campaigns next week. Before signing, ask a simple question: show me the buying access for a Portuguese account. If the answer is vague, what you are buying is a waiting list with a margin on top.

The second mistake is quieter and more expensive: starting to pay without having measured first. With no baseline of earned presence, the following quarter's report will show visibility rising and nobody will be able to say which part was bought. That is why we measure the two columns separately, and it is the only way the question gets an answer.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Portuguese company already buy advertising in ChatGPT?

Not yet, and we verified it first-hand on 20 August 2026. The registration form accepts country Portugal, currency EUR and the Lisbon time zone, which gives the impression it is open. On the next screen comes the message that settles it: the Ads Manager is not yet available in your country, with a support contact for questions. So Portuguese users start seeing advertising on 24 August, and Portuguese advertisers still cannot buy it. Whoever promises you ChatGPT campaigns this week either has not tried or will not deliver.

Do the ads appear to every user?

No. They appear on the Free and Go plans. The Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans stay without advertising. This has a direct consequence for the media plan: if your buyer is somebody who pays for a ChatGPT subscription, a relevant part of your audience will see no advertising at all, and the investment goes further on earned presence.

Are the ads targeted using personal data?

At launch they are not personalised. OpenAI indicated that the selection uses only the conversation topic, the general location and the device type. In practice that brings the format closer to classic contextual advertising than to the behavioural targeting media teams are used to, and it changes how the campaign is built.

Does advertising in ChatGPT replace organic visibility work?

It does not, for a structural reason. In half the engines we measure, Claude and Perplexity among them, there is no paid space at all, by public decision of the companies themselves. There the only path to the answer is the earned one. Advertising buys reach where inventory exists and buys nothing where it does not, and no media budget replaces being the brand the model names.