OpenAI has begun showing ads on ChatGPT's Free and Go subscription tiers in India, expanding its advertising program to one of the platform's largest markets1,2.
The company said in February that it has more than 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users in India, a large share of whom use the free or lower-priced Go tier3. The Go plan is priced at 399 rupees ($4) per month.
OpenAI will start by showing ads for 50 brands and has partnered with agencies WPP and Omnicom for the rollout. The company plans to launch an ad manager next month that will let marketers create campaigns with a daily minimum budget of ₹725 ($7.60).
"With ChatGPT Ads, businesses of every size can introduce themselves at relevant, high-context moments when decisions are beginning to take shape," said Dave Dugan, head of global ads solutions at OpenAI.
The ad feature is already live in 38 other countries, including the U.S., Japan, Korea, and across 31 European nations. OpenAI started showing ads to U.S. users in February and expanded to Europe earlier this month.
A spokesperson told CNBC that advertising would support "broader access to ChatGPT through free and lower-cost tiers". ChatGPT has more individual direct consumers than enterprise users, making ads a lever for monetizing the business at scale.
OpenAI changed its terms of service earlier this month to indicate that it will show ads to users while they use the AI assistant. The company said ads will be clearly labeled, visually separate, and shown below the response, and that answer independence is "non-negotiable".
The India launch follows sustained investment in the market. OpenAI launched the sub-$5 ChatGPT Go plan in August 2025 and ran a limited promotion that made the tier free for a full year. The company also advertised during the Women's Premier League and Indian Premier League cricket tournaments and hired Uber's India head to lead its expansion efforts in the country.
According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI recorded revenue of $6.7 billion in the second quarter ended June 2026, up from $5.7 billion in the previous quarter. According to The Information, the company had 35 million users paying for its Plus and Pro plans and was aiming to reach 220 million paying subscribers by 2030.
ANALYSIS India's ad rollout fits a pattern visible in the numbers: with over 100 million weekly active users concentrated on free and low-cost tiers, subscription revenue alone cannot cover inference costs for that user base. Ads offer a monetization path for users who are unlikely to upgrade to higher-priced plans.
Anthropic, by contrast, said Claude will remain ad-free and that users will not see ads or sponsored links near their conversations, adding that Claude's answers will not be influenced by third-party product placements.
ANALYSIS The competitive split is now explicit: OpenAI is building an ad-supported consumer platform while Anthropic is positioning Claude as an ad-free alternative. The self-serve ad manager launching next month, with its low ₹725 daily minimum, opens the system to small and mid-size advertisers across India's market.