Amazon Opens ChatGPT Ad Buying Through Its DSP in US Pilot

Amazon advertisers will be able to purchase ChatGPT advertising through Amazon DSP as part of a limited US pilot. The arrangement gives selected advertisers another route into ChatGPT’s growing advertising system. However, Amazon will provide a managed buying service rather than control which advertisements appear beside individual conversations. OpenAI will retain responsibility for ad delivery and placement.

Key Takeaways: Amazon DSP Adds Access to ChatGPT Ads

• ChatGPT advertising inventory will be available through Amazon DSP during a limited US pilot.
• Delta Vacations is among the brands testing the arrangement.
• Amazon will offer access as a managed service rather than a self-service buying option.
• Advertisers can purchase inventory on cost-per-click and cost-per-thousand-impressions models.
• Text and image ads will appear beneath ChatGPT responses with sponsored labels.
• Product feeds can automatically generate advertising assets from retailer catalogs.
• OpenAI, rather than Amazon, will determine which ads are delivered.
• Advertisers will receive aggregated performance metrics, including impressions, clicks, CPM and CPC.
• The pilot does not introduce affiliate attribution or commission reporting.

Amazon DSP Becomes a Route Into ChatGPT Ads

Amazon advertisers participating in the US pilot will be able to purchase ChatGPT advertising through Amazon DSP.

The ChatGPT inventory will be offered as a managed service, with Amazon’s team helping selected advertisers set up and optimize their campaigns. Ads can be purchased using cost-per-click or cost-per-thousand-impressions pricing.

Delta Vacations is among the brands testing the arrangement. Its involvement shows that the pilot is not limited to retailers selling physical products through Amazon.

Amazon describes its DSP as an omnichannel media-buying platform available to brands, agencies and technology providers. The platform can be used by businesses that sell through Amazon and those that do not, with access to advertising across Amazon properties and third-party websites, apps and media inventory.

Adding ChatGPT gives participating advertisers another environment in which to reach people researching products, comparing services, or moving toward a purchase decision. However, the pilot remains limited to selected US brands rather than representing a general self-service launch.

OpenAI Will Continue Making Delivery Decisions

Using Amazon DSP does not give Amazon control over where an advertisement appears within ChatGPT. 

OpenAI will make delivery decisions through its own advertising systems. Text and image units will appear below relevant ChatGPT responses and remain visually separated from the organic answer.

OpenAI’s official advertising guidance states that ads do not influence its answers. It says advertisements may be matched using the current conversation topic, previous chats and earlier interactions with ads.

Advertisers do not receive access to conversations, chat histories, memories or personal information. OpenAI instead provides aggregated performance information.

Amazon DSP ordinarily uses Amazon’s shopping, browsing and streaming signals to help advertisers build audiences. Neither company has explained which of those signals, if any, will influence ChatGPT campaigns or what information can pass between the two advertising systems.

Product Feeds Bring Catalog Advertising Into ChatGPT

Amazon is also offering product-feed advertising capable of generating creative assets from an advertiser’s catalog.

This could reduce the manual work required to prepare separate advertisements for individual products. However, the companies have not disclosed how frequently product-feed ads will appear, which categories are eligible or how catalog information will be matched with conversations.

Participating advertisers will receive metrics including:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Cost per result
• Cost per thousand impressions
• Cost per click

These figures can show how users respond to paid placements. They do not reveal whether an advertisement influenced the preceding ChatGPT answer or provide a complete view of earlier discovery activity.

What the Pilot Means for Affiliate Marketers

The pilot adds a paid layer to product discovery inside ChatGPT. An affiliate publisher may help a shopper discover or evaluate an option, but a sponsored placement beneath the answer could become the final recorded click before purchase.

This resembles the wider cross-channel attribution gap between TikTok discovery and Amazon sales. The channel generating interest may not be the system receiving conversion credit.

The distinction is particularly important as AI platforms take on more commercial roles. Unlike Meta’s Muse shopping agent, which can research products and complete purchases for users, the announced ChatGPT integration concerns paid placements rather than autonomous checkout.

Amazon and OpenAI have not announced affiliate links, publisher commissions, or partner-level attribution within the pilot. Affiliate teams will therefore need to compare referral data, advertiser analytics, and affiliate-network reporting to understand whether ChatGPT advertising is changing the final route to purchase.

The pilot gives advertisers a new way to buy conversational inventory, but it does not resolve who deserves credit when paid ads, AI answers, and affiliate content contribute to the same sale.