The Pulse
Amazon Opens ChatGPT Ad Inventory to DSP Buyers
Amazon Ads is testing a partnership with OpenAI that lets selected U.S. advertisers buy ChatGPT ad inventory through Amazon DSP. Amazon will manage campaign access and optimization, while OpenAI controls ad delivery and placement inside Cha
AI.info Team ·
Amazon is putting ChatGPT’s advertising inventory in front of its own demand-side platform buyers, but the deal stops short of giving Amazon control over what appears inside the chatbot. Selected advertisers in the United States are testing a new integration that lets them extend Amazon Ads campaigns into ChatGPT, while OpenAI keeps authority over ad delivery and placement.
The arrangement creates a clear division between buying and serving. Amazon provides the campaign-management relationship, access to advertisers, and optimization tools. OpenAI decides where sponsored text and image units appear beneath ChatGPT responses and continues to label them as advertising.
Amazon announced the pilot on September 10, 2026, through its advertising business. Delta Vacations is among the first advertisers testing the program, according to Amazon’s announcement, which describes the partnership as a way for brands to reach people while they explore options, compare choices, and make decisions inside conversational chat.
Amazon Adds ChatGPT to the DSP Buying Path
Advertisers using Amazon DSP can now work with Amazon to extend campaigns into ChatGPT rather than establishing a separate buying relationship with OpenAI. The pilot is limited to the U.S., and Amazon describes the arrangement as a managed service, meaning its teams help advertisers set up and optimize campaigns.
The initial offering supports two familiar pricing models: cost per click and cost per thousand impressions. That structure gives media buyers a way to compare ChatGPT activity with other inventory purchased through their existing advertising operations, although the pilot’s publicly disclosed materials do not include pricing ranges, minimum budgets, or performance benchmarks.
Amazon is also offering product feed ads. Those units can use information from an advertiser’s product catalog to automatically create ad assets, extending a format already associated with retail and commerce advertising into ChatGPT’s conversational interface.
Ad units appear beneath organic ChatGPT responses rather than being inserted into the generated answer itself. The distinction matters because OpenAI’s product experience separates the assistant’s response from sponsored material, and the ads carry a sponsored label.
OpenAI Keeps Control of Where Ads Appear
The partnership gives Amazon access to a new type of inventory, but it does not turn Amazon DSP into an independent exchange for ChatGPT placements. OpenAI continues to control ad delivery and placement through its own systems.
That arrangement limits what advertisers can assume when they buy through Amazon. A brand can use Amazon’s platform and services to enter the pilot, but it cannot dictate which ChatGPT conversations receive an ad or treat the inventory like a conventional publisher marketplace with directly selected page positions.
Search Engine Land reported that advertisers participating in the test will receive aggregated data including impressions, clicks, cost per result, CPM, and CPC. Those metrics give buyers a basic reporting layer, but the companies have not publicly described whether advertisers will receive detailed conversation-level context, audience segments, frequency controls, or independent verification of delivery.
The division also preserves OpenAI’s control over the user experience. Amazon handles the commercial access point, while OpenAI retains responsibility for deciding how ads fit around answers generated by ChatGPT. For buyers, the setup resembles a media partnership with a controlled supply source more than an open programmatic auction.
Chris Conetta Frames Conversational Ads as a New Buying Channel
Amazon’s announcement presents the partnership as an extension of the campaigns advertisers already plan and optimize through Amazon Ads. Chris Conetta, director of omnichannel supply at Amazon DSP, said the company sees conversational interfaces as a growing place for brands to reach audiences.
“Conversational ads represent the fastest growing engagement opportunity for brands to reach new and existing audiences.”
Chris Conetta, director of omnichannel supply, Amazon DSP
Conetta said the integration lets advertisers extend campaigns into platforms where customers are spending time in conversational chat. His comments position the pilot as an operational change for existing Amazon buyers rather than a wholly separate advertising product that requires new tools, new contracts, or a new media workflow.
Amazon’s value in the arrangement comes from its established advertiser base and its ability to connect campaign planning, activation, optimization, and measurement across multiple channels. The company says its advertising platform combines browsing, shopping, and streaming signals with inventory from Amazon-owned properties and the open internet.
Those signals do not give Amazon control over the content of a ChatGPT conversation. They may, however, make Amazon an attractive sales and campaign-management partner for brands that already use its DSP and want to test an AI assistant as an additional media channel.
Delta Vacations Tests Ads Inside Travel Conversations
Delta Vacations is one of the early advertisers in the pilot. The company’s participation gives the test a concrete use case: reaching travelers while they research destinations, compare options, and plan trips.
Katrin Koenig, president of Delta Vacations, said the company is working with Amazon Ads and ChatGPT Ads to inform when and how its brand appears in those experiences. Amazon’s announcement describes Delta Vacations as one of the first brands testing the approach.
Travel planning is a natural fit for conversational advertising because users often ask broad questions before they identify a specific product or provider. A person may begin with a destination, budget, or trip length and only later move toward a commercial decision. Ads displayed beneath those responses could give brands access to that consideration stage, although neither Amazon nor OpenAI has released conversion data from the pilot.
The same format could apply to advertisers outside retail. Amazon DSP serves brands that use the platform for reach across digital media, not only sellers listing products on Amazon. That creates a potential route for travel companies, financial services firms, entertainment brands, and other advertisers to test ChatGPT without buying directly through OpenAI.
Why the Partnership Matters for ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI’s advertising business gains a distribution channel that already has relationships with agencies and brands. Advertisers familiar with Amazon DSP can approach ChatGPT as an addition to an existing media plan instead of treating it as a standalone platform.
That may reduce friction for larger advertisers, particularly those that already use Amazon for audience planning and campaign measurement. It also gives OpenAI a way to reach companies that may not yet have built an internal process for buying ads in an AI assistant.
Amazon benefits from access to inventory beyond its own properties. The company has expanded Amazon DSP across streaming services, publisher inventory, and other third-party media, and ChatGPT adds a distinct conversational environment to that mix. The pilot therefore tests whether buyers will treat an AI assistant as another addressable media channel within a broader campaign.
The commercial question is whether advertisers can measure ChatGPT placements well enough to justify budget. ChatGPT responses do not resemble standard web pages, search results, or video streams. Users may read an answer without clicking, return to a conversation later, or make a decision after several exchanges. Reporting impressions and clicks is straightforward; proving that an ad influenced a later action is harder.
OpenAI’s control over placement adds another variable. Amazon can help buyers plan and optimize campaigns, but OpenAI determines the delivery environment. Advertisers will need evidence that the combination of conversational context, sponsored placement, and Amazon’s buying tools produces results that are distinct from ordinary display or search advertising.
The Pilot Leaves Three Questions for Buyers
Amazon and OpenAI have not announced a broad rollout date beyond the current U.S. test. The next step will depend on advertiser demand, campaign performance, and how both companies handle measurement as more brands enter the program.
One question is access. Amazon has said that select U.S. advertisers are participating, but it has not published a general application process or stated when all Amazon DSP customers might become eligible. The pilot’s managed-service structure also suggests that access may initially depend on sales support rather than a self-serve setting available to every account.
A second question is scale. Neither company has disclosed the amount of ChatGPT inventory available through Amazon, the number of daily impressions in the pilot, or the share of ChatGPT users who see sponsored units. Without those figures, advertisers cannot yet compare the channel with established inventory sources on reach or efficiency.
The third question concerns the boundary between the two platforms. Amazon wants to make ChatGPT available through a familiar media-buying system, while OpenAI retains control of the user experience and ad-serving decisions. That arrangement could work if buyers value convenience and OpenAI maintains clear separation between answers and advertisements. It could become more complicated if advertisers demand greater placement control, more detailed reporting, or direct access to conversational context.
For now, the concrete change is limited but significant: selected U.S. advertisers can extend Amazon DSP campaigns into ChatGPT, purchase the inventory on a CPC or CPM basis, and receive aggregated campaign reporting. Amazon owns the buying relationship. OpenAI still decides what appears beneath the answer.