OpenAI gives ChatGPT ads a visual upgrade

May 21, 2026 Presented by OpenAI is building on its single ad format to include some new iterations that give advertisers more optionality over their appearances. The new options include a larger image and an optional call-to-action button that advertisers can personalize, according to mockups viewed by Digiday. Execs are also introducing a dedicated e-commerce format that can be displayed in either portrait or landscape orientation and pulls in shopping data including price and customer reviews. TOP STORY Marketing on Platforms OpenAI gives ChatGPT ads a visual upgrade OpenAI is building on its single ad format to include some new iterations that give advertisers more optionality over their appearances. Advertisement OTHER THINGS TO KNOW Shifting sports rights to streamers has made regional and local sports that much more valuable because fragmentation makes it much harder for national buys alone to reach local fans effectively. Partner insights from DIRECTV Advertising. Even with the biggest FIFA men’s World Cup in history rapidly approaching and modern sports fans continually demonstrating their digital savviness, the success of so many brands’ campaigns still relies on outdated strategies and technology. Partner insights from Sportradar. Programmatic buying has long relied on a combination of identity-based and contextual signals to guide decisions, but the latter has often been applied more narrowly. Partner insights from Seedtag. MARKETING The Creator Economy Twitch tweaks monetization tools to try and help smaller creators build a following Twitch’s new community-driven monetization tools seek to give creators more ways to get paid, but creators need to get discovered first The Business of AI 'Trust becomes the product': Marketers grapple with Google’s new suite of AI-powered ad agents First comes innovation, then comes transparency. At least that seems to be Google’s approach as the tech behemoth enters its agentic era. At Google Marketing Live (GML) yesterday, Google announced a new souped up suite of agentic ad tools backed by its LLM, Gemini. Google plans to roll out more ads in AI Mode in […] PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM ADJUST By migrating measurement systems, organizations are unlocking better long-term outcomes For many companies, migration becomes necessary when existing systems can no longer support the speed, complexity or coordination required across teams. A MESSAGE FROM DIRECTV ADVERTISING Welcome to the week-long metaphor for DirecTV For one week in New York, the best of TV comes together in one place. Some call it the upfronts, but we know what they really are. It’s basically a metaphor for what DirecTV does every day. Learn more Retail Media Rewritten U.K. brands spend more on retail media but ‘disconnected commerce’ hampers faster growth U.K. and EU spending on RMNs is rising, but marketers say issues around measurement and internal tugs-of-war are holding back upper-funnel investment. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM PATHLABS The new risk emerging for independent agencies As retail media and programmatic spend surge, independent agencies are juggling more platforms, more data and more expectations. As a result, execution is becoming the biggest risk to performance and retention. Advertisement FROM DIGIDAY+ Member exclusive Media Briefing: Publishers brace themselves for the zero-click era amid Google's AI search overhaul Publishers are meeting Google’s AI search overhaul with resignation rather than resistance, bracing for a zero-click future on the horizon. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM CONTENTFUL How marketers are connecting content to business impact Marketers have more content, more tools and more channels than ever — but turning that into consistent, measurable performance is still a work in progress. RELATED COVERAGE Marketing on Platforms A closer look at OpenAI’s ads manager – and how much work it still needs OpenAI’s ads manager is being tested. Here’s what it can (and can’t) do yet. Marketing on Platforms ‘Maybe ChatGPT is a different kind of a place’: Why OpenAI is saying no to search budgets — for now OpenAI is coming for performance budgets — it just isn’t ready yet. Written by Jim Cooper and Sara Jerde Were you forwarded this email? Sign up to get it daily. Advertise | Digiday+ | Events | Awards Update your email | Unsubscribe | Privacy policy