OpenAI partnered with Criteo to sell its chatbot ads, according to a public announcement, and is in talks with The Trade Desk to do the same, according to sources.
Criteo CEO Michael Komasinski said in a statement:
“[The deal] represents an exciting step forward in advancing advertising in an emerging AI experience. We are helping shape how advertising can support discovery and consideration within large language model platforms, grounded in experiences that are additive, relevant, and built on user trust.”
Adweek reports that Criteo's integration will roll out in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has also held early talks with The Trade Desk to sell its ads, according to The Information sources. No wonder Jeff Green bought $150M worth of company stock! More on that in Section #10.
OpenAI says that it plans on eventually building its ad tech functions in-house, putting it more in line with Meta, Google, and Amazon, but I feel like I've been hearing that story for a long time now. Perhaps it's a smarter, safer route to work with existing ad networks to automate sales and provide performance metrics to buyers. It's a faster go-to-market strategy.
Sources say that OpenAI is also talking to other media agencies and ad tech firms to sell its ads, in addition to Criteo and The Trade Desk. I wonder if Amazon will get a seat at the table, given its recent $15B investment in the company and $35B more on the way.