It was always going to happen. ChatGPT is getting ads.
A prediction we’ll make now: we’re about to get another media incrementality problem.
At first glance it may look like search: post-intent, pre-decision. Then again you could argue it’s structurally different. In search, intent sits outside the decision engine. In ChatGPT, intent is expressed inside the system that frames the answer, so it seems a fair assumption it will present a sponsored suggestion anchored to it.
Recommendation and media collapse into the same moment.
So when someone asks “Where should I stay in London?” and sees a sponsored option, what is the ad actually doing?
Creating demand?
Shifting preference?
Or monetising a recommendation the system helped shape anyway?
Conversion rates will look great. Incrementality may be much harder to prove.
At Entropy we’ve always liked knotty measurement problems. We tackled various over the last few years with the industry including on out-of-home and more recently with retail media and influencers.
This feels like it could be the next one.
When it launches we’ll be guiding clients through how to measure the impact of their ad spend in ChatGPT accurately.
