ChatGPT Ads: be visible inside the AI's answer
People now search, compare and choose directly inside AI assistants.
What is GEA?
GEA, short for Generative Engine Advertising, is advertising served directly inside AI-generated answers. In practice, your brand can appear as a sponsored recommendation within a conversation, at the moment someone is looking for a solution, comparing options or about to make a choice.
It complements GEO. GEO builds your organic presence inside AI answers; GEA lets you buy visibility when you are not cited yet, or when you want to strengthen your presence on certain conversations. The point is not to choose between the two, but to know when to invest and when to let organic do the work.
Why look at it now?
Advertising is moving onto those journeys. ChatGPT Ads opens a new space for brands: the question today is not simply being there, but understanding where advertising can genuinely add something to your acquisition.
Search habits are changing fast. Some of the questions that used to go to Google are now asked directly to ChatGPT, Perplexity or other conversational engines. Advertising is starting to follow.
The inventory is young and the practices are far from settled. That is exactly what makes this moment interesting: you can test the formats, understand the costs and spot the use cases that work before the market gets far more competitive.
Take your position nowexpected on AI search in the United States by 2029, up from $1.1B in 2025 (eMarketer forecast)
eMarketer forecast (May 2025). Dollar amounts are published only for 2025 ($1.04B), 2026 ($2.08B) and 2029 (~$26B).
We treat it as a real paid channel
Not as an experiment sitting next to your existing campaigns.
We start from your business objectives, identify the conversations that can move your sales, then test the channel with a budget and performance criteria set out clearly.
Sophian
CEO & Co-founder
« The subject is still young, so the main thing is to avoid over-reading the first results.Talk to a GEA expert
Our job is to test the channel seriously: understand where it works, measure what it returns, and know when to stop if the numbers do not follow. »
The 4 areas we run
Four workstreams run in parallel on every campaign.
01 - Inventory
ChatGPT Ads, Perplexity and the other platforms gradually opening their ad space.
We track the new formats, their availability and their buying conditions to spot the opportunities that are actually usable.
02 - Message
An ad inside a conversation is not written like a Google or Meta ad.
The user has just been given an answer: your message has to add something relevant to that context, without repeating what the AI just said.
03 - Measurement
Tracking AI campaigns is even less mature than on the traditional paid channels.
We set up campaign tagging, visit tracking and conversion reporting so you can compare GEA with your other acquisition sources.
04 - GEO / GEA arbitrage
If your brand already ranks well inside a conversation, paying to appear there is not necessarily worth it.
So we look at both channels together and reallocate budget based on your organic visibility.
Measuring what the platforms do not show you yet
Conversational engines do not yet report at the level of detail Google Ads or Meta do. The available data has to be completed.
We put the tracking in place upfront: URL tagging, connection to your analytics tools and reconciliation with your conversion data.
You can then follow the spend, the traffic generated and the conversions attributed to the channel, and compare those results with your other acquisition levers. And if the performance is not there, we tell you.
See our dashboardsWhat we already know how to do on paid
GEA is too recent to show client cases. The teams running it, however, already manage significant budgets on Google and Meta.
Our specialized teams
At Stride-up we chose to segment our teams to respond to each client's specific needs with sharper expertise.
Key Accounts
We work with established brands and groups in fashion, sport and cosmetics. Our expertise covers product catalogue and feed management through Channable.
Growth
We support digitally native brands in their growth. The goal: accelerate growth and build a strong market position through tailor-made acquisition strategies.
Lead Gen
Specialized in Lead Generation, Nautilus is built for companies that make qualified leads their priority. Our approach combines precise targeting, scoring and rigorous follow-up to turn every lead into a concrete business opportunity.
A GEA setup built around your business goals
Identify the conversations that matter
We start by looking at the questions your prospects ask AI assistants.
Which queries come before a purchase? Which ones compare brands? Where is your company already cited? Where are you completely absent?
This first analysis separates the conversations worth investing in from those better handled through GEO.
Set up the campaigns
7 to 14 daysWe adapt the creative to the formats available on each platform, put the tracking in place and set the first test budgets.
The idea is to start small enough to learn, while keeping enough volume to get usable data.
Run it and arbitrate
No minimum commitmentOnce the campaigns are live, we monitor performance and compare it with your other acquisition channels.
If GEA returns well, we can scale the investment gradually. If it does not hold the comparison, we cut back or stop.
And as your organic visibility grows through GEO, we reassess which placements we keep buying.
Request a free GEA auditOur culture at Stride-up
Transparency
No pointless talk, no unkeepable promises: things are said as they are. Results, wins and areas to improve alike, everything is shared clearly, unfiltered.
Quality
Every project deserves the highest level of demand. Whether a campaign, a piece of content or a visual creation, every detail is crafted with care. Quality is what makes the difference over time.
Performance
We don't build campaigns, we build growth engines. Every strategy is designed to evolve, adapt to data and produce measurable results.
Synergy of levers
GEA never works alone. To deploy truly high-performing digital strategies, it integrates with the agency's other areas of expertise and creates a powerful multiplier effect.
GEA & GEO
GEO builds your organic presence inside AI answers; GEA lets you buy visibility on selected conversations. Running both together spreads your budget better between paid and organic visibility.
GEA & SEA
The platforms change, but some fundamentals do not: campaign structure, bid management, tracking, profitability analysis and budget arbitrage. That paid experience is what we bring to GEA.
GEA & Creative
The conversational format calls for different writing than a classic ad. The message has to sit naturally in the context of the conversation and give a good reason to carry on.
GEA & Data
Without reliable measurement, there is no way to know whether the channel deserves more budget. So we put the tracking in place before trying to scale.
FAQ: ChatGPT Ads and GEA
GEA or GEO, what is the difference?
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) earns your free citation inside AI answers through content, structure and authority. GEA (Generative Engine Advertising) buys a sponsored placement inside that same answer. One is earned over time, the other is won at auction. Both target the same surface and should be run together.
Can you really advertise inside ChatGPT today?
Yes. OpenAI opened advertising inside ChatGPT in January 2026 on free accounts, as a Sponsored block displayed below the answer. Paid subscriptions remain ad-free. Perplexity and Copilot also offer sponsored placements.
What does a GEA campaign cost?
The inventory is young, so entry costs are still low compared with classic search on equivalent intent. But available volume is limited: we do not recommend shifting a Google or Meta budget into GEA. We recommend opening a dedicated, measured line with an exit threshold set from day one.
How do you measure the return of a campaign inside an AI?
Like any paid channel: cost per click, cost per acquisition, margin. The difficulty is technical, not methodological. A click from an AI does not arrive with the usual parameters, so destinations must be tagged and sources named before launch. Without that, the spend becomes unverifiable within weeks.
Do you need GEO before doing GEA?
Not necessarily, but you need to know where you stand. Paying for a placement on a question where you are already cited for free is pure loss. The first deliverable of our audit is exactly that map of what AI says about you today, before any spend.
How do you choose a GEA agency?
Look at two things. First: does the agency already run auction-based media budgets, or is it learning the craft on this format. Second: can it measure your organic citation, because otherwise it will sell you paid placements on conversations you already win. Stride-up runs both, paid and GEO, with the same teams.
Before you buy, look at what AI already says about you
Test your visibility inside ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview for free. You will see which brands come up today on the conversations that matter in your market, and where investing could make sense.
Open your first advertising setup inside AI answers
ChatGPT Ads is still a young channel. That is a good reason to test it seriously, not to hand it a budget without knowing what it can return.