Advertising inside ChatGPT has launched in Australia, according to Mumbrella, giving local brands a new way to reach the millions of Australians now using AI assistants as a first port of call.
The arrival matters because it changes the shape of the funnel. When people ask an assistant for a recommendation rather than typing a search query, the contest for attention moves from the results page into the conversation itself.
That raises immediate questions for Australian media buyers: how ads are labelled, how performance is measured, and how much control a brand really has over the context its message appears in.
Why it matters
Search advertising has underpinned the local digital economy for two decades. A credible new channel inside an AI assistant is the first serious challenge to that model in years, and every agency and publisher has a stake in how it plays out.
Disclosure is the sharpest issue. Users need to know when an assistant’s answer is shaped by a paid placement, and Australia’s consumer-protection rules will be tested on exactly that point.
For brands, the pragmatic move is to experiment early but measure honestly. New channels reward first movers, but only the ones who can prove the spend actually worked.
Sources: Mumbrella
