To choose an agency for ChatGPT Ads, check four things. You should own the account. The agency should set up conversion tracking properly and know OpenAI’s ad policy for your category. And it should judge results in your own data.
The channel only opened to self-serve buying in May 2026, so experience is measured in months. The questions below separate careful operators from teams repeating search ads habits. We’re an agency ourselves, so we’ve kept to questions whose answers you can check.
Every platform fact links to OpenAI’s documentation. Where we give our own view, we say so.
What the work involves
Running ChatGPT Ads well is a set of specific jobs, most of them new. Any agency you hire should be able to explain how it handles each one.
| Job | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Account setup | Your business creates the ad account, with the right country, currency and time zone, then invites the agency |
| Verification and billing | Business verification, a billing profile and a card in your name |
| Tracking | The Pixel, the Conversions API or both, with deduplicated event IDs and a clean event quality score |
| Structure | Campaigns by goal and market, ad groups by theme, each with its own landing page |
| Context hints | Situations your offer fits, written to OpenAI’s four tests |
| Creative | Several title and copy variations per offer, inside OpenAI’s limits |
| Bidding and budgets | Objectives, bid strategies and budget pacing, which can’t all be changed later |
| Reporting | Ads Manager results reconciled with your analytics and CRM |
| Policy | Your category and markets checked against OpenAI’s ad policy |
Our guide to ChatGPT Ads Manager explains each part of the platform, so you can follow the conversation with any agency.
What OpenAI says about agencies
OpenAI works with a small group of large agency partners. Its September 2026 announcement names dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe and WPP. Advertisers can also buy through OpenAI’s own Ads Solutions team, technology partners or Ads Manager directly.
We haven’t found any agency certification from OpenAI. If an agency describes itself as certified for ChatGPT Ads, ask what that means and where OpenAI says so.
OpenAI’s advertising terms also set rules for agencies that buy for clients. They call them advertising intermediaries.
| Rule in the advertising terms | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| The agency must have authority to manage campaigns for you | You should know exactly what you’ve authorized |
| A written agreement must exist before the agency submits a campaign | Sign one, and read it |
| The agreement must bind you to OpenAI’s terms and let OpenAI enforce them | You’re bound by the terms either way |
| The agency is responsible for your compliance | It should check your ads and pages against the policy |
| The agency’s payments to OpenAI don’t depend on collecting from you | Clarify who pays OpenAI, and when |
Prepare before you talk to agencies
Agencies give better answers when you bring the basics. Gather these before the first call.
- Your category and the countries you sell in, so policy and availability can be checked.
- A realistic monthly ad budget, or a range.
- What a sale or lead is worth to you, and your average conversion rate today.
- Whether your site has conversion tracking, and who controls it.
- The landing pages you’d send traffic to.
- Who in your team will approve ads and read reports.
With those in hand, you can compare agencies on the same facts, and spot one that doesn’t ask for them.
Questions a good agency asks you
The first call works both ways. Our view: an agency that understands the channel will ask some version of these.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Which country is your business legally based in? | It decides whether you can use Ads Manager at all |
| Are your buyers on personal or work ChatGPT accounts? | Business and Enterprise accounts don’t see ads |
| What happens after someone clicks? | The conversion event shapes the whole campaign |
| Is anything you sell restricted? | Financial, health and legal services face extra rules |
| How will we know if it worked? | Success should be agreed before any money is spent |
If an agency talks only about budgets and creative, it has skipped the questions that decide whether the test can work.
Ten questions to help you choose an agency for ChatGPT Ads
These ten are our own list. Ask each agency the same questions, and compare the answers side by side.
- Who creates and owns the ad account? The safest answer is that your business does, and invites the agency.
- Which role will you need: Admin, Member or Viewer? Why?
- How will you set up conversion tracking, and how will you check event quality?
- Which conversion event would you optimize toward for us, and why that one?
- Is our category allowed in our markets under OpenAI’s ad policy, and what’s restricted?
- How will you write context hints, and how will you test them?
- How will you report? In Ads Manager only, or reconciled with our analytics and CRM?
- What would make you recommend stopping the test?
- How are your fees calculated, and are they separate from ad spend?
- What happens to the account and data if we part ways?
Good answers are specific and admit uncertainty. ChatGPT Ads has no published benchmarks across advertisers, so an agency quoting typical results should say where its figures come from.
Red flags
Some answers should end the conversation, or at least prompt a second question.
| Red flag | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The agency wants to own your ad account | You’d lose the account, data and history if you part ways |
| Promised results or a fixed cost per lead | Nobody controls OpenAI’s auction, and there are no benchmarks yet |
| A promise to get you into ChatGPT’s answers | OpenAI says ads don’t influence answers. That’s organic visibility, not ads |
| “Official partner” or “certified” claims without proof | OpenAI names its partners publicly |
| No plan for conversion tracking | Without it, you can’t run conversion campaigns or judge results |
| No mention of the ad policy | Some categories are restricted or disallowed by country |
| Launching before tracking is tested | Conversion campaigns can’t change their goal event later |
| Reporting from Ads Manager only | Clicks and conversions rarely match your analytics exactly |
How to compare proposals
We’d put each proposal in the same table, so the differences show. A cheaper proposal that skips tracking usually costs more in wasted spend.
| Check | Proposal A | Proposal B |
|---|---|---|
| Account owned by your business | Yes or no | Yes or no |
| Tracking plan, with the goal event named | Named or vague | Named or vague |
| Policy check for your category and markets | Done or missing | Done or missing |
| Reporting reconciled with your analytics or CRM | Yes or no | Yes or no |
| Stop rules agreed before launch | Yes or no | Yes or no |
| Fee model, separate from ad spend | Stated or unclear | Stated or unclear |
| Notice period and exit terms | Stated or unclear | Stated or unclear |
Any “no” in the first five rows deserves a follow-up question before you sign. Exit terms matter more than usual on a new channel, because you may want to change course quickly.
How agencies charge
Fees for ChatGPT Ads work vary, as they do on other channels. The common models are a percentage of ad spend or a fixed monthly retainer. Others charge a one-off fee for setup or an audit, or mix the two.
| Model | Suits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage of ad spend | Accounts whose budget will grow | An incentive to raise spend rather than results |
| Fixed retainer | Steady scope with clear deliverables | Scope creep, and what’s included each month |
| One-off setup or audit | Teams that will run the account themselves | Who maintains tracking afterwards |
| Mixed | Larger or multi-market accounts | How each part is calculated |
Whatever the model, the fee and the ad spend should be separate. Ad spend goes to OpenAI, from the payment method in your own account. Our pricing page explains how we quote.
Agency, freelancer or in-house
This is our view on when each makes sense.
| Option | Makes sense when |
|---|---|
| In-house | You have someone with paid media experience and time to learn a new platform |
| Freelancer | A small account with one market and simple tracking |
| Agency | Several markets, a product feed, server-side tracking or a regulated category |
| One-off setup, then in-house | You want tracking and structure done right, then run it yourself |
Eligible businesses can run ChatGPT Ads themselves in Ads Manager. Small budgets often should. Our setup guide walks through it. If you already run search ads in-house, our comparison with Google Ads shows which skills carry over.
A fair first test
We’d judge an agency on a defined test, whatever it promises. Agree on these points in writing before launch.
- The goal event and how it’s tracked, tested end to end.
- The budget and how long the test runs.
- The success measure, in your own analytics or CRM.
- The stop rule: the result that ends the test.
- What the agency reports, and how often.
Our 30-day test plan suggests a structure you can share with any agency.
Questions
Do I need an agency to run ChatGPT Ads?
No. Ads Manager is self-serve, and eligible businesses can sign up and run campaigns themselves. An agency helps when the setup is complex, such as several markets, a product feed, server-side tracking or a regulated category. Small budgets are often better run in-house.
Should the agency own my ChatGPT Ads account?
Our advice is no. OpenAI’s guidance is to have one person create the account and invite the others. Have your business create it in its own name and invite the agency with the role it needs. You then keep the account, data and history whatever happens.
Does OpenAI certify agencies for ChatGPT Ads?
We haven’t found one. OpenAI names a small group of large agency partners, and its advertising terms set rules for agencies buying on clients’ behalf. If an agency claims certification, ask where OpenAI says so.
What should an agency report on ChatGPT Ads?
At minimum: spend, impressions, clicks, CTR, average CPC and conversions, by campaign. Better reports reconcile Ads Manager with your analytics and CRM. Ask how they handle the 24 to 48 hour conversion delay and the attribution windows they use.
Can an agency guarantee results on ChatGPT Ads?
No one can. OpenAI’s auction decides delivery and prices, and OpenAI says there are no performance benchmarks across advertisers yet. Treat any guarantee as a red flag, and agree on a test with clear stop rules instead.
How much budget do I need before hiring an agency?
It depends on the agency. OpenAI’s own minimum is a daily budget per campaign, such as 25 USD. Agencies often set their own minimum spend so a test has enough data. Ask each agency for its minimum and its reasoning.
