ChatGPT Ads in the Netherlands: what they are and what they don’t do

As of 12 October 2026. Facts regarding countries, formats, and budgets shift monthly, and sources contradict each other on several points. Therefore, this page indicates the source for every figure. Where sources conflict, we only mentionMention A place where your business name is mentioned, with or without a link.More about this term what is unambiguous and state that the rest is uncertain. We update this page whenever OpenAI makes a new announcement.

ChatGPT Ads are advertisements within ChatGPTChatGPT OpenAI's AI assistant, which allows you to ask questions and receive answers in natural language.More about this term that, according to OpenAI, are always separate from the response and labelled. According to the OpenAI help centre, users of the free version and the Go subscription may see ads. Accounts with Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Edu do not receive them. Accounts of individuals under 18 also do not see them, and OpenAI does not display them during conversations about personal health. Political advertisements are currently not permitted. According to OpenAI, advertisers target the context and intentSearch intent What someone actually aims to achieve with a search query.More about this term of the conversation as well as the country, rather than keywordsKeyword The word or phrase that someone types into a search engine.More about this term, and pay per impression or per click. Regarding the response, OpenAI states: “advertisers have no ability to shape, rank, or alter ChatGPT’s responses.” According to OpenAI, advertisements run on separate systems from the chat model. These are statements from OpenAI that we have not verified ourselves, and policies may change. As of 12 October 2026.

1. January 2026. On 16 January 2026, OpenAI announces advertisements for the free and Go subscriptions in the United States.
2. February 2026. According to the OpenAI help centre, the test begins on 9 February 2026.
3. August 2026: The Netherlands. On 18 August 2026, OpenAI announces 31 European markets, including the Netherlands. NL Times reports on 19 August that the advertisements will be visible in the Netherlands the following week.
4. Late August 2026: self-service advertising. According to OpenAI (31 August) and Dutch IT Channel (1 September 2026), advertisers in Europe can set up their own account and campaign via Ads Manager.
5. Not confirmed as of 12 October 2026. Whether personalised advertisements are running in the Netherlands is unclear: OpenAI initially stated they were unavailable in the European Economic Area, while Dutch IT Channel wrote that it depends on the region and privacy settings. We have been unable to determine whether new formats are available in the Netherlands.

Very little, and what is available comes primarily from parties with a commercial interest. According to Search Engine Journal (29 September 2026), OpenAI itself has not published any performance benchmarksBenchmark A comparative figure, such as the average within your industry.More about this term. Treat what follows as an indication, not a standard.

Click-through rateCTR The percentage of people who click on your link or advertisement after seeing it.More about this term per market. Search Engine Journal (29 September 2026) published click-through rates between 0.60 and 1.91 per cent per market, based on panelUsability Panel A group of testers, real or simulated, who evaluate your website for ease of use.More about this term data and a report from a market researcher, pooled across advertisers with ads for free and Go users. The sampleSample A portion of the whole that you examine to draw conclusions about the whole.More about this term size has not been published and both sources have a commercial interest. No markets from the European Union are included; a click-through rate for the Netherlands has not been published.

Cost per clickCost per click What you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement.More about this term in the Netherlands. Emerce (21 August 2026) reported that a media agency, after a test with approximately 70 international clients, arrived at roughly €2 to €3 per click. The number of impressionsImpressions The number of times your site was displayed in search results.More about this term or clicks was not published.

What is missing. There is no measurement with published numbers of impressions or clicks for the Netherlands or the EU. Furthermore, we found no research measuring the effect of advertisements in ChatGPT on being mentioned (as of 12 October 2026).

According to OpenAI, no: “advertisers have no ability to shape, rank, or alter ChatGPT’s responses.” According to OpenAI, advertisements run on separate systems from the chat model and are always separate from the response and labelled. Being shown as a paid ad and being mentioned in the response are therefore two different things. You can have an advertisement without the response mentioning you. A company that does not advertise can be mentioned in the response. The latter falls under GEO: being visible in the responses themselves.

Whether advertising changes the chance of being mentioned has not been independently measured. We found no research measuring the effect of paid advertisements in ChatGPT on being mentioned (as of 12 October 2026). Without that measurement, any promise that advertisements will get you mentioned is an assumption. This also applies to the Netherlands. We found no research to support the argument that advertising leads to being mentioned (as of 12 October 2026).

One caveat. A marketing agency wrote in a blog post on 30 April 2026 that paying makes a signal louder but does not fix a weak signal. That reasoning comes from search engines, not ChatGPT, and the agency itself wrote that there is no clean data yet for advertisements in AI assistants.

The order is the message: measure first, then budget.

1. Measure if and how you are currently mentioned in AI responses. Take the questions your customers ask and see if ChatGPT mentions you. Without this baseline measurement, you won’t know later if an advertisement has changed anything.
2. Check whether your industry is allowed to advertise. According to OpenAI’s policy (as of 12 October 2026), gambling, adult content, and tobacco are among the excluded categories, and OpenAI is cautious regarding health. The policy may change, so check the current policy yourself.
3. Test small and measure paid and organic side by side. The OpenAI help centre advises a starting bid of $3 to $5 per click. Record how often you are mentioned during the same period, so you can see both side by side.
4. Decide based on enquiries, not clicks. A click is not a customer. Look at what the clicks yield in terms of enquiries before increasing the budget.

If you prefer to advertise on Google, you can read on SEA how we approach that based on cost per enquiry.