Advertising inside ChatGPT is moving from an idea into an active test, and Quartile is stepping in to help brands navigate it. On September 21, 2026, Quartile announced that it has become a technology partner supporting advertising in ChatGPT, giving participating advertisers access to ChatGPT Ads through its tools and workflows.
The timing matters because ChatGPT has more than 1 billion weekly active users. Advertising in ChatGPT remains in its pilot stage, but the partnership gives advertisers a structured way to prepare campaigns, connect product information, and manage their strategy as the format develops.
Quartile Builds the Campaign Path
Quartile, a retail media optimization platform, manages a brand’s ChatGPT Ads strategy end-to-end. That work begins with organizing and preparing the product information needed for campaign activation, creating a foundation for advertisers that want to place products within the ChatGPT experience.
A dedicated ChatGPT Ads team then handles the campaign process. Its responsibilities include campaign setup, product feed integration, conversion tracking, targeting, budget decisions, and ongoing optimization. Instead of treating advertising as a single setup task, Quartile brings these steps together inside one workflow.
- Organizing and preparing product information
- Setting up ChatGPT Ads campaigns
- Integrating product feeds
- Managing conversion tracking
- Making targeting and budget decisions
- Handling ongoing campaign optimization
This structure connects the technical work behind a campaign with the decisions that shape how advertising investment is managed. Daniel Knijnik described the challenge this way: “AI is creating entirely new ways for consumers to discover products, but technology alone does not create a successful advertising strategy.”
His second statement focused on the role of connected data and campaign management: “By bringing together data, AI, and a comprehensive view of their advertising strategy across channels, we can help our customers make smarter investment decisions and drive greater value from every dollar they”.
Sponsored Content Gets Its Own Space
ChatGPT Ads are designed to fit into the ChatGPT experience while remaining separate from ChatGPT’s answers. The ads will also be clearly labeled as sponsored content, creating a visible distinction between a paid placement and the response generated in a user’s chat.
That separation defines how the advertising format is being tested. Advertisers gain access to ChatGPT Ads through Quartile’s tools and workflows, while users encounter sponsored content that remains distinct from the answers and conversation already taking place.
OpenAI announced on September 16, 2026, that it had introduced AI-powered tools for advertisers and begun testing business-sponsored agents for users to chat with. This adds another layer to the advertising experience, moving beyond a sponsored placement toward an interaction with a business-sponsored agent.
OpenAI Tests Sponsored Agents
The Sponsored Agents feature will let users start conversations with business-sponsored agents and visit a business’s website after interacting with ads in ChatGPT. Users can move from an ad interaction into a conversation with the sponsored agent, then continue to the business’s website.
These agents will be clearly labeled and remain separate from ChatGPT’s responses and the user’s original chat. That means the sponsored agent does not become part of the main ChatGPT response, and the original conversation remains distinct from the business-sponsored interaction.
The two announcements establish a connected picture of where ChatGPT advertising is heading. Quartile is providing campaign tools, workflows, product preparation, tracking, targeting, budget management, and optimization, while OpenAI is testing AI-powered advertiser tools and business-sponsored agents inside ChatGPT.
The format is still in its pilot stage, but the pieces are already taking shape: product information can support campaign activation, sponsored content can appear separately from answers, and users can engage with clearly labeled business-sponsored agents before visiting a business’s website.
With more than 1 billion weekly active users, ChatGPT offers a large setting for this advertising test. Quartile’s partnership gives participating advertisers a way to enter through a managed strategy, while OpenAI’s Sponsored Agents feature points toward advertising that users can interact with rather than only view.
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