ChatGPT Ads in Singapore: what we know on 7 October 2026
What launched and when
OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT in the United States on 9 February 2026, according to its help centre. On 23 September 2026 (US time) it announced the rollout to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan. The Business Times dated the Singapore start as 24 September 2026, Singapore time.
OpenAI said in September 2026 that ChatGPT Ads were available in more than 60 countries, with “tens of thousands of advertisers”.
Singapore is listed as available for self-service Ads Manager, so a business registered here can open its own account at ads.openai.com. OpenAI's campaign guide set the minimum daily budget for an account billed in Singapore dollars at S$4.00, as of October 2026.
Who sees the ads
Ads may appear for people on ChatGPT's Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts get no ads, OpenAI's ads FAQ says. The Go plan costs S$11 a month in Singapore, The Business Times reported on 5 October 2026.
No ads go to accounts identified as belonging to people under 18, and ads are not eligible near sensitive topics such as personal health, mental health or politics.
An ad sits below the answer, labelled as sponsored. OpenAI says advertisers cannot alter what ChatGPT says and never see the conversations.
How many Singaporeans are in ChatGPT
OpenAI has not published a ChatGPT user count for Singapore. Its figure of 1.2 billion people a week, given in October 2026, is global. These are the Singapore figures that exist.
Working-age residents who used generative AI, June 2026
AI use is climbing
Singapore workers using AI at work
Singapore enterprises using AI
Sources: Microsoft, Global AI Diffusion Report, The Straits Times on IMDA's report.
Beyond those two figures:
- Singapore ranks first of 147 countries for ChatGPT messages per person from April to June 2026, on OpenAI's Signals data as reported by Second Talent in September 2026.
- A 2026 Lianhe Zaobao survey of 444 Singapore residents found that 79.5% use AI at least once a week and 57.4% every day.
One more figure from the 2026 Lianhe Zaobao survey matters most to advertisers: 54.3% of respondents use only free versions of AI tools. ChatGPT shows ads only on the Free and Go plans, so that free majority is the audience an ad can reach.
What the government is doing
Businesses are catching up. IMDA's Singapore Digital Economy Report 2026 found that AI use among Singapore enterprises rose from 14.7% in 2024 to 23.5% in 2025, and among SMEs from 14.5% to 23.4%. The government is pushing further.
- On 20 May 2026 Minister Josephine Teo announced ten refreshed priorities for the national AI strategy, according to MDDI.
- The National AI Impact Programme aims to help 10,000 enterprises use AI meaningfully over three years and to train 100,000 non-tech professionals by 2029, The Business Times reported on 20 May 2026.
- Budget 2026 expanded the Productivity Solutions Grant to more AI-enabled solutions, according to Enterprise Singapore.
- MDDI and OpenAI signed a memorandum of understanding on 20 May 2026, with OpenAI committing more than S$300 million to Singapore's AI ecosystem, The Business Times reported that day.
None of this is about advertising, and none of it endorses ChatGPT Ads. It does mean more people and firms using AI every day. The full list is in our Singapore audience insights.
What early advertisers reported
Read these with care. They are vendor-reported results from single advertisers in other markets, and OpenAI's own ads FAQ said in October 2026 that there are no performance benchmarks yet.
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WeightWatchers
15.3% lower attributed CPA
CPA indexed to the benchmark at 100. DV Rockerbox, via OpenAI, 5 October 2026. For this one advertiser, ChatGPT Ads won customers more cheaply than its search mix.
Not: proof that a Singapore business will pay less per customer.
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Dose
2.3x the orders last-click counted
Incremental orders. WorkMagic, via OpenAI, 5 October 2026. A last-click report can understate what these ads drive.
Not: that every campaign is undercounted by the same amount.
Both results above are from single advertisers, as OpenAI reported on 5 October 2026. A third: 93% of Portland Leather's visitors from ChatGPT Ads were new, per Triple Whale, in OpenAI's announcement of 5 October 2026.
On cost, Search Engine Journal reported on 8 September 2026 that advertisers' CPCs ranged from under US$3 to about US$13, and that OpenAI recommends a starting maximum CPC of US$3 to US$5, which is not a benchmark. Those advertisers were in the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Our services page sets out what four of them spent.
What we would test first for a Singapore SME
This is our approach, not an OpenAI rule.
- Check the category. OpenAI's ad policies (version 1.6, September 2026) favour consumer categories and generally prohibit finance, health and legal advertisers outside the US. If that is your business, wait.
- One campaign, Singapore only, on a daily budget. OpenAI recommends a daily budget for new advertisers. Set one you can afford to learn from.
- Ad groups by customer need. Give each group specific context hints. OpenAI's own example splits a plumbing business into emergency repairs and preventive maintenance.
- The most relevant landing page for each group. Add UTM tags, and leave OAI-AdsBot and OAI-SearchBot unblocked, as OpenAI's ad guidance advises.
- Conversion measurement before judging. Without the OpenAI pixel or Conversions API, Ads Manager reports clicks and spend, not enquiries.
What to ask an agency before spending
- Whose name is the account in? OpenAI's setup guide has agencies create a separate ad account for each advertiser. Yours should belong to your business.
- Are you an OpenAI partner? OpenAI names five agency partners: dentsu, Havas Media, Omnicom Media, Publicis Groupe and WPP. We are not one, and an independent agency should say so plainly.
- Have you checked my category against the ad policies? A declined category wastes the setup work.
- Where will each click land, and how will you count enquiries? You pay per click or per impression, never per conversion.
- What results can you show? We have no ChatGPT Ads results of our own yet; the channel only opened here in late September 2026.
