OpenAI's ChatGPT Hits $1 Billion in Annualized Ad Revenue in Under Seven Months

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OpenAI's ChatGPT reached $1 billion in annualized ad revenue less than seven months after launching its ad product, a milestone that may make it the fastest business ever to hit that mark with a digital product. Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Amazon each took several years from ad launch to reach $1 billion in annual revenue, and ChatGPT hit the figure while selling ads only in North America. Among its biggest advertisers are Booking Holdings, Intuit, Home Depot, and L.L. Bean, and the chatbot has reached 1 billion weekly active users. At the start of the month OpenAI expanded ads to more than 40 countries, including India, and across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, and it opened the ad product to small and medium-sized businesses, which now represent a significant share of the business. The article argues the success should support the broader AI ecosystem, including chip stocks, and names Nvidia as the most obvious beneficiary given its $30 billion investment in OpenAI and OpenAI's plans to deploy at least 10 Gigawatts of Nvidia systems.

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