The first ads in ChatGPT ads went live this week, crossing the line from assistant to ad platform. This changes the rules of discovery. With ads now appearing inside high-intent conversations, marketers have a new way to influence renters before traditional search even begins. 

In this blog, we’re breaking down what ChatGPT’s new ad platform means for multifamily and senior living marketers, what we know so far, and the early recommendations from our ad ops leadership team on how to prepare your strategy now.

You’ll Learn:

• What we know about ChatGPT ads right now
• How ChatGPT ads should fit into your marketing strategy
• Key considerations for housing marketers
• How to prepare your website for AI ads and LLM visibility
• How ChatGPT ads could shape the future of marketing

Before we dive into the details, it’s important to note that the initial advertising pilot that was announced will not be available to most advertisers. 

Here’s why:

• There is currently a $200,000 spend requirement
• A self-serve ad management platform isn’t available yet

While testing ads in ChatGPT isn’t viable for most advertisers right now, it does signal a huge shift and opportunity that advertisers need to be paying attention to.

What We Know About ChatGPT Ads Right Now

While there are still many unanswered questions about how ChatGPT ads will work for mainstream advertisers, OpenAI did provide initial information about when ads will appear, what information will and won’t be available to advertisers, and what the first ads will look like. 

Who will and won’t receive ads?

• Users on ChatGPT’s Free and Go subscription (a new $8/mo plan that launched in the U.S. last month). 
• Users paying for Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers won’t be shown ads.
• Free users who don’t want to upgrade can opt out of ads in exchange for stricter daily message limits. 

When will ChatGPT ads appear?

Ads are expected to appear within ChatGPT conversations after an AI response. This means ads can appear when prospects are asking high-intent questions about a relevant topic.

According to OpenAI, whether or not an ad is shown to a user will depend on a mix of factors, including:

• The topic of conversation
• The user’s past chats
• The user’s past interactions with ads 

What ads won’t be able to do is influence the actual answers that ChatGPT provides to prospects. 

What ad formats will be available in ChatGPT?

OpenAI has said that they would like the ads within their platform to be both helpful and relevant and shared two different examples of what these ads may look like. 

Example #1

Inspired by Instagram ads, OpenAl intends to launch product-focused carousel ads featuring the brand name, logo, a line of text tying the ad to the conversation, and a small product image, along with a short headline and subheadline.

They also announced a plan to allow ChatGPT users to start chat conversations directly with the brand sponsoring the ads.

Example #2

This second example, which shows how a potential brand chat conversation could unfold, is particularly interesting for multifamily marketers because it offers a glimpse into how initial apartment advertising could work. 

In the example above, someone is looking for information about Santa Fe, New Mexico, and based on this conversation, ChatGPT assumed they were interested in traveling to the city, and therefore recommended accommodations in the area.

Based on what has been shown, you can easily imagine how effective this strategy would be for apartment marketers who want to get in front of people researching what neighborhood to live in within the new city they want to move to.

The potential to ask further questions about the property, which is similar to how prospects are already navigating apartment websites, shows what the future of marketing could look like.

What will ChatGPT ads cost?

• OpenAI is looking to charge a $60 CPM, according to recent reports
• This rate is more than 3X the typical cost of running ads on Meta

What kind of reporting will OpenAI provide?

• OpenAI only plans to provide aggregated visibility metrics, such as views and clicks.
• So far, they have claimed that conversational data will remain private and not be provided to advertisers. 

OpenAI Plans to Release More Advertising Capabilities Over Time

OpenAI does have plans to offer more features to advertisers beyond what they initially shared in recent announcements. This February, they announced plans to expand their advertising program to support additional formats, objectives, and buying models. 

Since we are still in the early days of the ad platform’s development, we have limited visibility into what these future formats will be, the current objectives available, and how their buying models will work.

How ChatGPT Ads Should Fit in Your Strategy

We sat down with our VP of Ad Operations, Audrey McKasy, and Senior Ad Operations Manager, Liam Keller, to talk about how multifamily advertisers should be thinking about where these ads will fit in the marketing funnel and what marketers need to consider before implementing them.

“That said, leasing decisions will still be driven by timing, availability, location, and pricing. So while ChatGPT may influence which communities a renter considers, it will not replace the channels that capture demand when someone is ready to tour or convert.”

Additionally, “several factors will determine whether this channel becomes viable for housing marketers”, explains Liam.

• We need to know more information about ad buying and pricing models
• How the targeting mechanics will work is still unclear
• Exact measurement and attribution capabilities have yet to be confirmed 

“At Conversion Logix, new platforms are evaluated through the lens of performance, budget efficiency, and measurable outcomes”, shares Audrey.

The Key Takeaway: 

ChatGPT ads should be treated as a top-of-funnel discovery and influence channel, not a replacement for demand capture.

Key Considerations for Housing Marketers

Unknowns Around How OpenAI Will Address Fair Housing

At this time, one of the biggest question marks for apartment marketers is how OpenAI will factor in protected classes and thoughtful targeting for housing ads.

So far, we have heard OpenAI mention the following about protected groups and restrictions:

• They won’t target users under 18
• Ads related to sensitive or regulated topics, such as “health, mental health, or politics,” won’t be eligible to appear
• Eventually, guardrails will be implemented to prevent overly narrow ad targeting in an effort to protect user privacy and safety
• They intend to build protections to reduce the risk of scams and other “harmful or misleading ads”

Where housing advertisers fit on this list, how protected housing classes will be handled, and what will be implemented and when, remains unknown. 

Which Properties in Your Portfolio Should Test ChatGPT Ads First

Assuming ChatGPT implements similar housing guardrails as Meta and Google, and housing ads are available to apartment advertisers, which properties are a good fit for ChatGPT advertising is another important consideration. 

Not every community is a good match for early-stage AI advertising. Properties that benefit from early brand authority, such as lease-ups with large marketing budgets, are a better choice than almost-stabilized properties with limited budgets.

How to Prepare for AI Ads: Optimize Your Website for LLMs

ChatGPT ads are still emerging, but that doesn’t mean multifamily and senior living marketers should ignore them. As we head into an era where visibility in LLMs is becoming increasingly important, taking the time to optimize your website for these channels is a smart next step to improve both organic and paid visibility.

What you need to know:

• To provide contextually relevant answers, ChatGPT uses OAI-SearchBot to crawl your website to determine whether your brand is relevant to the question a user is asking.
• AI crawlers will use your web schema markup to read these pages. So it is important to ensure they are written with both AI and human readers in mind.

What to optimize:

• Consider the kinds of questions you would like your property to show up for.
• Think about how you can design not only FAQs but also relevant and personalized pages related to that topic so that in the future, LLMs will be able to link to relevant content when your property is surfaced in an ad.

How ChatGPT Ads Could Shape the Future of Marketing 

Instead of starting with short keyword searches, more renters will start by asking full questions about neighborhoods, lifestyles, commute tradeoffs, and what it’s actually like to live in a new city. The brands that show up in those early moments can influence consideration sooner.

Two of the most unique aspects of ChatGPT ads are the ability for advertisers to show up for very high-intent queries and facilitate chat conversations with a renter within an ad.

If ChatGPT ads are successful, we will see a shift in how other ad platforms evolve to compete and how other LLMs approach advertising.

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