ChatGPT Ads reaches Europe in the week of 24 August 2026, on both sides of the platform at once. Ads serve to users in 31 European markets, the 27 EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, from 24 August. Businesses registered in those same 31 markets can open their own advertiser account the same week, confirmed by OpenAI on 21 August. Users on the free tier and the Go plan see the ads; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts do not.
That single week collapses a distinction European advertisers have been living with all summer: reachable was not the same as registrable. Here is what opens, what stays true, and what to do with the days before the doors open.
The 31 markets
The list is the EEA plus Switzerland: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. All 31 appear on OpenAI's own availability table as coming soon since 21 August 2026. The UK opened separately back in June 2026 and is not part of this wave.
What opens, and when
| What | When | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Campaigns can target the 31 markets | Since 18 Aug 2026 | Live, verified in our account |
| Ads serve to European users (free + Go) | From 24 Aug 2026 | Confirmed by OpenAI 19 Aug |
| European businesses open advertiser accounts | Week of 24 Aug 2026 | Confirmed by OpenAI 21 Aug |
Two of those three rows were already true before the accounts opened: an eligible advertiser, say a US or UK entity, has been able to select European countries in the campaign builder since 18 August, and ads begin serving on 24 August regardless of who bought them. The third row is the new one. Until the signup button is live, buying for Europe still runs through OpenAI's Ads Solutions team, its agency partners and its technology partners, and through eligible entities a group already owns.
The rules that do not change
Europe joins the platform under the same account rules as every existing market, and three of them decide how launch week goes:
- +Eligibility follows the business registration country. A German company registers as a German advertiser, whatever markets it sells into.
- +The account country and currency are permanent once set, and verification checks the exact registered name against national records. Pick the registering entity before you touch the signup form.
- +There is no manager account. Your agency is invited into your account with a role; nobody can run your ads from theirs.
The full detail sits in the eligibility guide and the agency access guide, and both apply to the new markets unchanged.
Targeting and language
European campaigns target at country level. Sub-country targeting, meaning states, cities and postal codes, exists only in the US today, so a campaign for the Munich market is a Germany campaign until that changes. Creative runs in the language of the conversation you want to appear in: ChatGPT ads render inside the chat, below the answer, so a Portuguese user asking in Portuguese should meet a Portuguese ad. The creative rules, 24-character titles and 48-character copy, are in the creative specs guide and apply in every language.
The week before the doors open
Early auctions are thin auctions. The US taught this in February 2026 and Brazil repeated it in August: the advertisers who open with a complete campaign buy attention cheaply while their competitors are still reading the verification form. Everything on this list can be prepared before your account exists:
- +Choose the registering entity and collect its verification documents: exact legal name, registration number, and a company card billed in the account country.
- +Plan conversion tracking now: pixel plus Conversions API, three to five events. Accounts with conversion history from day one can hand bids to Maximize results weeks before accounts that waited.
- +Build the ad set to the 100-ad bar, with context hints per ad group, ready to bulk-upload the day verification clears.
The verification guide, the conversion-tracking guide and why 100 ads cover each step. For your own country's status, the 30-second eligibility checker gives the verdict and will tell you the day your market opens.
Launching with us
We have run campaigns on the platform since before Europe was targetable, from our own account and our clients', which is where every number and rule on this page comes from. For a European brand that wants to open with a full campaign rather than a first draft, the managed service takes account, verification, creative and launch, live within 48 hours of kickoff.
