ChatGPT Ads arrive in Croatia: what to prepare before your first campaigns

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets, and Croatia is on the official list, marked "Coming Soon". Ads appear mid-conversation, while people research, compare and decide.

Self-service access for advertisers in Croatia is not open yet, but campaign preparation can start now. Below we explain how ChatGPT Ads work, what early results from other markets show, and why it pays to build organic visibility in ChatGPT alongside paid campaigns.

In short:

• On August 18 OpenAI announced the expansion of ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets, starting the week of August 24, 2026.
• Croatia appears on the official availability list as Coming Soon for self-service Ads Manager.
• Initial ad buying runs through the OpenAI Ads Solutions team and agency and technology partners; self-service access from Croatia is not active yet.
• Ads display to Free and Go plan users; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu stay ad-free.
• The platform supports CPM, CPC and conversion-optimized CPC, context hints, geo-targeting, custom audiences, Pixel, Conversions API and product-feed campaigns.
• Early results show both real potential and high volatility; reliable universal benchmarks do not exist yet, as OpenAI itself confirms.
• Paid and organic presence are separate: ads do not influence ChatGPT responses, so it makes sense to build organic AI visibility through SEO and GEO alongside the campaigns.

What is actually confirmed for Europe and Croatia?

It is confirmed that OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets, with ad serving beginning the week of August 24, 2026. Croatia is on the official list, but marked Coming Soon for self-service advertiser access. In other words, the channel is arriving, but the method and timing of access roll out gradually.

Two levels of availability must be distinguished. One is whether users in Europe will see ads, the other is whether a Croatian company can open Ads Manager and launch a campaign today.

For Croatia this means a clear direction but a patient entry. The most valuable preparation can be done before the button to launch a campaign even appears.

Why this launch interests us in particular

It interests us because new channels reveal the most early, before saturation. At Risely we test new platforms, formats and beta products year after year. Not all become important channels, but early entry shows how a platform truly works, who it suits and where the value sits while competition is still thin.

ChatGPT Ads sends several serious signals:

• According to data OpenAI shared with Adweek, ChatGPT has about one billion weekly active users, roughly 20% of whom show commercial intent.
• OpenAI states that tens of thousands of marketers have already advertised on ChatGPT.
• Ads respond to conversation context developed across several messages, not just a short query.

This is not proof the channel will be profitable for every brand. But it is reason enough for serious advertisers to watch it and prepare before the market matures.

How is ChatGPT Ads different from Google and Meta?

The biggest difference is not the ad format, but the signal used to assess relevance. Google Search relies primarily on the search query, Meta connects audiences, behavior and proprietary data, while ChatGPT tries to understand intent from the whole conversation context.

A user might not write "best CRM for a small business". Instead they explain they have 12 salespeople, operate in three countries, need Gmail integration and want to avoid a complex implementation. That conversation carries far more context than a single keyword.

ChatGPT Ads should not be viewed as a copy of Google Search. Context hints are not keywords, and the conversations that trigger ads are not shared with advertisers. Strategy has to start from the customer's needs and situations, not from migrating a keyword list.

What do ChatGPT ads look like and where do they show?

Ads appear below ChatGPT responses, clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from the response itself. According to OpenAI documentation, an ad can include the advertiser name, a logo or favicon, a headline, a description, a landing page and a visual.

OpenAI also supports product-feed campaigns that pull names, prices, availability, images and destination URLs from a catalog. For e-commerce it matters that OpenAI uses a Google-compatible product data format. Webshops that already keep a quality Google Shopping feed have a foundation that applies to this channel too.

Ads do not change ChatGPT responses. OpenAI explicitly states that the ad system and the model generating responses are separate, that advertisers do not receive user conversations, and that showing an ad is not an OpenAI endorsement of the brand.

Who will see the ads and who will not?

Ads display to users on Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans stay ad-free. Ads are also not shown to accounts OpenAI knows or estimates belong to people under 18.

For B2B advertisers this is an important limitation. The total number of ChatGPT users differs from the audience ads can reach. Some professional users, managers and teams use paid or business plans that ChatGPT Ads will not reach.

In the European Economic Area and Switzerland, personalized ads are not available in the first phase. Ads can still connect to the current conversation context, but without broader signals from other conversations and user history. That makes the quality of context hints, ad copy and landing page even more important in Europe.

How are campaigns structured and optimized?

The structure follows the format familiar to Google and Meta users: campaign, ad group, ad. The campaign sets the objective, budget, dates and markets. The ad group unites a theme or intent area. The ad carries the message, visual and destination page.

The most interesting element is context hints, descriptions of conversations, needs and situations where the product or service is relevant. OpenAI recommends natural, specific phrasing. Instead of a broad "running shoes", a better hint reads "comfortable shoes for beginners training for their first five kilometers". Hints help the system understand purpose, but they are not exact-match rules that guarantee delivery with specific words.

Three main purchase objectives currently exist:

• CPM / reach: payment per thousand impressions, optimized toward reach
• CPC / clicks: payment per valid click, optimized toward traffic
• oCPC / conversions: optimization toward selected conversions, charged per click rather than per conversion

For CPC campaigns OpenAI recommends a starting maximum bid of 3 to 5 dollars per click. That is guidance, not a market benchmark or a promised CPC. Actual CPC depends on the market, category, relevance, competition and auction dynamics.

What does the platform already offer for targeting and measurement?

Though young, the platform offers technical foundations that go beyond a mere experiment. Available are current-conversation context, advertiser context hints, geo-targeting at least at country level, custom audiences, and Pixel plus Conversions API.

• current conversation context and intent
• geo-targeting at least at country level, with more granular options where supported
• custom audiences from email or phone lists, with inclusion, exclusion and bid adjustments
• OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API
• UTM parameters and an OpenAI click reference to link clicks and conversions
• measurement through selected partners

Custom audiences require at least 25,000 matched users, and OpenAI recommends a minimum of 100,000. For most Croatian companies that is a much higher threshold than on Google or Meta.

For web measurement we recommend combining the Pixel and a server-side Conversions API with event deduplication, UTM parameters, GA4 and, where possible, CRM or real revenue and lead-quality data. OpenAI itself notes the Conversions API provides more reliable data than the browser Pixel alone. Landing pages must be accessible to OpenAI's crawlers. Ads require enabling OAI-AdsBot, with a recommendation to also allow OAI-SearchBot. It is worth checking this in robots.txt files and in your CDN or bot-protection system.

What do early results from other markets really say?

Most important of all: OpenAI itself states the platform does not yet have reliable benchmarks by industry, objective or campaign type. Publicly available data mix aggregated estimates, individual accounts and very small tests. Use them to understand ranges, not to build business plans.

The conclusion is not that ChatGPT Ads "works" or "does not work". Early data shows a very wide range of results. The channel can deliver quality traffic and sales, but it is still unstable, lacks enough data for universal claims and carries a higher risk of wrong conclusions from small samples.

Why to prepare organic ChatGPT visibility alongside the ads

Because paid and organic presence in ChatGPT are not the same thing. ChatGPT ads do not increase organic visibility, do not influence response content and do not mean ChatGPT recommends the advertiser. An ad buys a clearly labeled placement below the response. Organic visibility happens when ChatGPT or another AI platform mentions, cites or recommends a brand on its own, based on available sources and signals.

That is exactly why it makes sense to work on both. If a user sees competitors in the responses but your brand only in sponsored cards, paid campaigns may earn a click, but the organic experience does not build trust in your favor. If you are present in relevant responses, a user can recognize your brand as a credible option even before seeing an ad.

Campaign preparation should therefore include Search optimization that combines SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization):

1. Measure initial AI visibility. Test whether your brand appears in ChatGPT and other AI platforms for business-critical queries. The Risely GEO Audit checks visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude and Copilot.
2. Build a shared intent map. The same question groups can be the foundation for content, landing pages, context hints and ad messages.
3. Strengthen verifiable signals. Clear product and service pages, comparisons, case studies, expert authors, reviews, data, citations and consistent brand information help both buyers and AI systems understand relevance.
4. Check technical availability. Important content must be crawler-accessible, load quickly and clearly connect entities, products and authors. Use the GEO checklist for details.
5. Measure paid and organic performance separately. ChatGPT ad traffic should have its own UTM parameters and conversions, while organic traffic and AI visibility are tracked as separate metrics.

If the area is new to you, read the guide on what GEO is and how it differs from SEO.

What can Croatian advertisers do already?

What matters most is what can be done before spending a single euro. Do not wait for the Ads Manager button to appear; set up the foundations your campaigns will later stand on.

1. Define the questions and situations that precede a purchase. List the real problems, comparisons, limitations and use cases customers describe before choosing. Group them by intent and decision stage, do not copy Google Ads keywords.
2. Check organic demand and AI visibility. Test whether people and AI systems ask about your category and which brands appear in the responses. If the category lacks relevant conversations, paid inventory probably will not show much volume.
3. Check policy fit. OpenAI initially supports mostly consumer categories. Alcohol, tobacco, gambling, political advertising and other sensitive content are banned or heavily restricted, while finance, health and legal may require individual approval. Always verify current rules in OpenAI Ad Policies.
4. Prepare relevant landing pages. Users arrive from conversations where they already described a problem. A generic homepage is often a poor choice. The page must immediately confirm you solve a specific problem, offer evidence and guide toward a clear action.
5. Prepare several genuinely different ads. OpenAI recommends several headlines, descriptions and visuals covering different benefits and situations, not ten shallow variations of the same message.
6. For e-commerce, organize the product feed. Check names, categories, prices, availability, GTINs, images and destination URLs. A quality Google Shopping feed is a good starting point since OpenAI uses compatible specifications. Read more in the guide on Google Shopping ads arriving in Croatia.
7. Prepare tracking before the campaigns. Define conversions and how you will connect ads to revenue or lead quality: Pixel, Conversions API, deduplication, UTM, GA4, consent management and, where possible, CRM data. If unsure about existing measurement, start with a data and analytics audit.
8. Agree on what the first test must prove. Do not judge success on CTR or CPC alone. Predefine the main business objective, an acceptable CAC, CPL or ROAS, how you will assess lead quality, and how much data to collect before deciding to scale or stop.
9. Register interest and prepare an access path. Companies can register interest on the official ChatGPT Ads page. Do not open accounts with fake addresses, a VPN or another country's data, as that risks rejection or suspension.

How we would set up a first ChatGPT Ads test

For a first controlled test we would recommend a simple structure: one clear business objective, two to four separate intent groups, a dedicated ad group for each intent, several specific context hints per group, at least three genuinely different creative angles, a relevant landing page for each group, and measurement wired through Pixel, Conversions API and GA4.

The first test should not answer only "what is the CPC?". It should show whether enough relevant inventory exists, what the traffic quality looks like, which conversation contexts best match the offering and whether the channel generates profitable sales or qualified leads.

This mirrors the principle we apply to other performance channels: start from business goals, secure reliable measurement, test in a controlled way and scale only when the data justifies it.

Who does ChatGPT Ads make the most sense for today?

The best early candidates are probably brands that solve clear, frequently described problems, offer consumer products or services allowed by the policies, already have some organic traffic or ChatGPT mentions, and can prepare specific landing pages and several creative angles. They also need enough conversions, reliable measurement and a controlled test budget that does not cut into already-profitable channels.

For some B2B brands the channel can be interesting too, especially when customers research software, suppliers or business solutions through ChatGPT. But expect a large share of the professional audience to use ad-free plans, so inventory and volume may fall short of the total user count.

Conclusion: the edge will not belong only to whoever launches an ad first

ChatGPT Ads arrives in Europe far more prepared than earlier this year. Ads Manager, CPM, CPC, conversion optimization, geo-targeting, custom audiences, product feeds, Pixel, Conversions API and measurement partners already exist. That is enough for serious advertisers to treat it as a new performance channel, but not enough to treat it as a replacement for a mature Google or Meta.

For Croatian brands the best move now is preparation. Measure organic AI visibility, define customer questions and intent, strengthen GEO, prepare tracking, landing pages, creative and the feed, and set clear test rules. When access opens, the edge will not belong only to whoever first clicks "Create campaign", but to whoever has already prepared quality signals, relevant content, reliable measurement and clear answers to what the first tests must prove.

Want to prepare your brand for ChatGPT Ads while improving organic visibility in ChatGPT and other AI platforms? Contact us. We can connect a GEO audit, intent mapping, measurement, landing pages and a first campaign plan into one clear readiness roadmap.

Editor's note: data and availability verified on August 21, 2026. ChatGPT Ads is a beta product; markets, rules, features and access conditions may change quickly.

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