OpenAI says ad biz reached $1B revenue run rate in less than a year

Zoom in: In a blog post Monday, OpenAI said "tens of thousands of advertisers" now used ChatGPT Ads, which is available in more than 40 countries.

• The majority of those campaigns include cost-per-click and outcome-optimized bidding, it said, a testament to its ability to build a self-serve ad platform for performance advertising.

Between the lines: Self-serve platforms require technical expertise and upfront investment, but when built correctly, they empower tech firms to build scaled ad platforms that can reach a much broader swath of advertisers.

• OpenAI opened up its self-serve ads manager in May.
• It now says small and medium-sized businesses represent "a material share of the business."

The big picture: Generative AI search ad revenue is the fastest-growing ad format in history, per WPP Media.

• WPP Media projects generative AI ads will reach $100 billion globally by 2030.
• Much of that spend is expected to go to OpenAI, as well as Google.

What we're watching: OpenAI has told investors that it expects to generate $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and $100 billion by 2030, according to a source familiar with recent presentations to investors, Axios' Ina Fried reported.