Since 24 August 2026, Belgian ChatGPT users have been seeing ads under some of the assistant's answers. For an SME, this is not yet a channel to budget for seriously, but it is already a place where a competitor can show up instead of you. The right call today is neither to ignore the subject nor to rush a budget into it.

The facts: OpenAI launched its first ads in the United States on 9 February 2026, with a starting CPM of about 60 dollars per 1,000 impressions, according to the tests reported by Abondance in February 2026. The extension to around thirty European markets was announced on 18 August 2026, then went live in Belgium on 24 August. OpenAI claims more than one billion weekly active users, and its ad business reportedly passed one billion dollars in annualised revenue in under 200 days.

The Belgian audience is already there. According to the Digimeter survey by research institute imec, two out of three Flemish people say they have used an application such as ChatGPT or Gemini, and 43 % use one at least once a month, against 18 % in 2023. In other words: some of your prospects now ask an assistant the questions they used to type into Google.

What is in place, and what is not yet

What an ad looks like

The ad appears below the generated answer, visually distinct from the assistant's text and labelled as sponsored. The typical format is a product card with an image, a title and a clear « Sponsored » marker. The model does not cite the advertiser in its answer: there is no blending of paid and generated content.

Who sees these ads

Only Free accounts and the Go subscription. The Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans stay ad-free, as do users identified as minors and temporary chats. In short: your most tech-savvy paying audience will probably never see your ad.

Who can buy today

This is the sticking point. At the European launch, buying still went through OpenAI and its approved partners, with a self-service tool announced for « later this quarter ». Several specialist sources place the opening of that self-service through Ads Manager on 1 September 2026, explicitly aimed at SMEs and startups. Availability varies by market: the only reliable way to know where you stand is to try creating an advertiser account from Belgium.

What it actually changes for a Belgian SME

Targeting is no longer a keyword, it is a conversation

In the European Economic Area, targeting relies first on the topic of the current conversation, approximate location and device type. Personalisation from conversation history requires explicit prior consent, unlike other markets where it is on by default. For a Belgian advertiser: coarser targeting than a well-tuned Google Ads account, but often a riper intent, since the user has spelled out their problem.

Budget: not yet a trade-off against Google Ads

With a young inventory, limited formats and conversion measurement still fresh, ChatGPT Ads is not a channel to move a performing budget onto. The reasoning stays the same as for any advertising test: a marginal envelope, a single objective, a period long enough to judge. If you have not yet set out the method for calculating your advertising budget, start there before opening one more channel.

The real work happens upstream

The blind spot is not buying ad space: it is whether your company exists at all in the assistants' answers. Being cited for free weighs more, and for longer, than a sponsored card under that answer. The work is the same as the one described for staying visible when AI answers in your place: content that answers questions directly, sourced figures, consistent listings. Add clean first-party data (customer list, server-side conversions), the raw material of targeting, just as with retargeting without third-party cookies.

Frequently asked questions

Can I already buy ChatGPT ads from Belgium ?

Ads have been running in Belgium since 24 August 2026, but advertiser access depends on the self-service tool opening in your market. The test takes five minutes: try creating an Ads Manager account with your Belgian entity. If access is not open, there is no rush, the inventory is still thin.

How much does it cost compared with Google Ads ?

The only public benchmarks come from the US tests: around 60 dollars per 1,000 impressions, well above usual display CPMs, with minimum commitments designed for large advertisers. For an SME, the question is therefore not yet cost per click, but access.

Should I stop Google Ads to test this new channel ?

No. Google Ads remains the channel where purchase intent is best qualified and measurement most mature. The automatic migration to AI Max announced for September 2026 already calls for monitoring on your Search campaigns, as covered in our piece on campaigns being steered by AI.

Priority action plan

1. Test access: try creating a ChatGPT Ads advertiser account with your Belgian entity and note the date. As long as access is not open, there is nothing to budget.

2. Check what the AI says about you: ask ChatGPT the three questions a typical client would ask before contacting you, and see who gets cited. That is your real starting point.

3. Get your data in order: server-side conversion tracking, a usable customer list, clear landing pages. That groundwork serves this channel like every other.

4. Keep the budget where it performs: a test is not funded by cutting a profitable campaign, but with a marginal envelope and a single objective.

Advertising inside assistants is only a few months old, and its inventory will move faster than Google Ads rules do. The advantage will not go to those who buy first, but to those whose company is already readable, quotable and properly measured on the day the channel truly opens up.

Want to know whether this channel is worth a test in your case ? We run the digital advertising of Belgian SMEs, budget by budget.