OpenAI projects $2.5 billion in ad revenue for 2026

Investing.com -- OpenAI expects to generate $2.5 billion in advertising revenue this year, with projections reaching $100 billion by 2030, Axios reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with recent presentations to investors.

The company has told investors it expects ad revenue to surge to $11 billion in 2027, $25 billion in 2028 and $53 billion by 2029. These projections assume OpenAI's products will reach 2.75 billion weekly users by 2030, according to the report.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Axios report.

In January, OpenAI said it would start showing ads in ChatGPT to some U.S. users as part of efforts to boost revenue growth to help fund costs of developing its AI technology. The ads were to be tested with users on ChatGPT's free tier and the lower-priced Go plan.

Late last month, an OpenAI spokesperson said ChatGPT's ads pilot in the U.S. crossed $100 million in annualized revenue within six weeks of its launch. The company had expanded to over 600 advertisers at the time.

OpenAI is making efforts to grab market share in the ad industry, dominated by Alphabet's Google and Facebook parent Meta. Google's ad business generated $294.69 billion in 2025 revenue, while Meta reported 2025 ad revenue of $196.18 billion.

OpenAI reports no impact on consumer trust metrics and has observed low dismissal rates of ads.

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