Weekly Hacks #3: ChatGPT ads arrive in Ukraine and a week of AI auto-edits

The third issue of our "Weekly Hacks" column: a short summary of what changed in advertising last week and what to do about it. The second issue covered Meta’s TikTok ad ban and Google’s channel priorities.

ChatGPT: ads arrive in Ukraine

On October 21 OpenAI announced ChatGPT ads in 26 more countries, 89 in total. The new countries include Ukraine, Serbia, 14 Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, as well as Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Cambodia. Ads have been running in 31 European countries since August.

• Who sees the ads. Only users of free ChatGPT and the Go plan. Plus, Pro and Enterprise have no ads.
• How to buy. Through the OpenAI ad account (Ads Manager) or through technology partners.
• Scale. In eight months more than 100,000 advertisers have run ads in ChatGPT. According to CNBC, OpenAI’s ad business reached a $1 billion annual run rate in August, up from $100 million in March.
• What is still missing. OpenAI has not named an exact start date for each country or said which languages and formats will be available in the new markets.

What it means. For businesses targeting Ukraine this is a new channel with low competition: while there are few advertisers, a click is usually cheaper than in Meta and Google. It works best for niches where people ask for advice first: education, online courses, services, B2B. We explained how ChatGPT ads work and what they cost in a separate guide.

ChatGPT: ads will start rewriting themselves

On October 20 OpenAI emailed advertisers: from October 30 creative enhancements, automatic ad improvements, switch on in new and running campaigns. The OpenAI help page gives a date one day earlier, October 29. What the system can do:

• write new headlines and descriptions to fit the conversation or the person’s interests;
• translate the ad text into other languages;
• resize images to fit the formats;
• send the click to a different page of your site if it considers that page more relevant.

These versions run without your approval. How to turn it off: in Ads Manager open the Settings section (marked Beta), find the Creative enhancement card and switch off the toggle. The setting exists at account level and at campaign level, and the campaign setting takes priority.

Meta: two changes this week

• October 28: Product browsing. In running ads Meta will turn on an in-app catalog inside Facebook and Instagram: after the click people first see your products and only then your website. Meta promises 3% more conversions on average, based on a test with 117,700 advertisers, but does not disclose how the cost per conversion changed. We explained how to turn it off in the second issue.
• October 30: new ad terms. They include an "AI Features" section: the advertiser bears full responsibility for whatever Meta’s AI created or changed in their ads, including features Meta switched on itself. No separate consent is needed: if your ads keep running after October 30, the terms count as accepted. Agencies have already found links, translations and AI images in their ads that nobody switched on.

A tip for every niche. Auto-enhancements are not always bad: Meta and OpenAI turn them on because on average they bring more conversions. The danger is when AI changes a price, a promise or the terms of an offer. For ads with prices and promotion terms, and in Meta also for healthcare and finance, keep auto-edits off. In other campaigns leave them on in one ad set and compare the cost per lead over a week.

Google: new customer value up to 5x

• Multipliers instead of a fixed uplift. On October 22 Google moved percentage multipliers in customer lifecycle goals out of beta: you can say a new customer is worth 1.1–5 times more. Google’s example: with a 1.2x multiplier, a $100 purchase from a new customer counts as $120 for bidding. It works in Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen.
• High value mode in Shopping. The mode that raises bids for high-value new customers used to be available only in Search and Performance Max; now it works in Shopping campaigns too.
• Retention modes (Re-engagement, Loyalty and Retention only) are opening up in Performance Max, Search and Shopping.
• Requirement. You need a current-customer segment of at least 1,000 active people: an uploaded customer list (Customer Match) or a remarketing list.

Personal data in ads. Since October 16 Google’s privacy policy has a new caveat: Gmail, Drive and Google Photos data may influence ads if the user has opened them to other Google services, for example by connecting Personal Intelligence in AI Mode. For now this is a voluntary user setting, and advertisers do not see names or email addresses. Google is also testing a scrolling rating ticker in search ads and has added a "save and test" button for A/B tests of asset groups in Performance Max.

What is live and what is still in testing

Five things to do this week

1. On October 28 check Product browsing in Meta and turn it off wherever a landing page should collect the lead.
2. By October 29 turn off Creative enhancement in ChatGPT Ads Manager for campaigns with prices and promotion terms.
3. By October 30 go through the Advantage+ creative enhancements in all active Meta ads: from that date you are responsible for the AI’s edits.
4. If your customers are in Ukraine, prepare a ChatGPT ads test: a page in Ukrainian, UTM tags and a small budget for the first two weeks.
5. In Google Ads upload a customer list of at least 1,000 people and turn on the new customer multiplier, starting at 1.2–1.5x.

Sources

1. CNBC — OpenAI expands ChatGPT ads to 26 more countries
2. The Next Web — ChatGPT ads in 89 countries and 100,000 advertisers
3. PPC Land — OpenAI turns on ad auto-edits by default
4. PPC Land — Meta makes advertisers responsible for AI edits from October 30
5. PPC Land — Product browsing turns on October 28
6. PPC Land — Google Ads: new customer value multipliers up to 5x
7. 9to5Google — Gmail and Photos data in ads with Personal Intelligence