Key Takeaways
- OpenAI engaged in preliminary discussions with The Trade Desk (TTD) regarding ChatGPT ad sales support
- TTD shares climbed 9.3% during after-hours trading on the news; AppLovin (APP) also rose more than 1%
- OpenAI currently pilots advertisements with signed-in adult users on Free and Go plans
- OpenAI’s annualized revenue reached $25B by late February, marking a 17% increase from $21.4B at year-end
- OpenAI secured $110B in its most recent funding round, with major investments from Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank
Shares of The Trade Desk (TTD) surged 9.3% during Wednesday’s after-hours session following a report from The Information indicating that OpenAI conducted preliminary talks with the advertising technology company regarding advertisement sales on ChatGPT.
According to sources with knowledge of the situation, these discussions remain in their initial phases.
OpenAI has recently launched an advertising trial on ChatGPT within the United States. This pilot program exclusively targets adult users who are logged in and subscribed to either the Free or Go tiers.
Rather than developing its advertising infrastructure entirely internally, the company seems to be pursuing partnerships with external firms.
In addition to The Trade Desk, OpenAI has reportedly engaged in discussions with various brands, media agencies, and additional ad tech companies as it explores its early-stage advertising pilot program.
Fellow ad tech company AppLovin (APP) saw its shares increase by over 1% in response to the announcement.
OpenAI’s Growing Revenue
According to a recent report, OpenAI’s annualized revenue reached $25 billion by February’s end. This represents a 17% jump from the $21.4 billion figure the company reported at the conclusion of last year.
Projections indicate OpenAI anticipates generating over $280 billion in total revenue by 2030, with approximately half coming from consumer operations and half from enterprise services.
In the enterprise market, OpenAI competes with rivals like Anthropic and Google, both of which are aggressively marketing AI solutions to corporate clients.
Historic $110B Capital Raise
This past Friday, OpenAI announced the completion of a $110 billion funding round.
Amazon led with a $50 billion investment, while Nvidia and SoftBank each contributed $30 billion.
This funding round ranks among the largest in technology sector history and provides OpenAI with substantial capital to pursue expansion across multiple business segments — advertising included.
Integrating advertisements into ChatGPT represents part of a wider strategy to diversify OpenAI’s revenue streams beyond its existing subscription offerings and enterprise agreements.
The Trade Desk, which provides a self-service programmatic advertising platform, could offer the scale and technical infrastructure necessary to help OpenAI efficiently manage ad distribution across its expanding user community.
Neither organization has officially confirmed any definitive partnership agreement.
