#search-ads

#search-ads

Engineer Tibor Blaho recently found references to upcoming ad functionality in the ChatGPT Android app. Code strings mention search ads, a search ad carousel, and an ad API. Though ad mentions were found in the Android app, it's likely a change that's coming to ChatGPT on all platforms, including iOS, Mac, and the desktop. Given the "search" wording, it's possible ads will be limited to web searches and shopping research requests.

Oddly, it only seems to be a small fraction of users or queries that are showing these ads at the moment, and by default it's appearing below more direct answers. That's for the results that are marked as "Sponsored" to comply with laws in the US and other countries. This is well below the advertising load in the "All" and far more direct "Web" tabs of Google Search, which show sponsored results immediately (and typically require lots of scrolling to get past for especially lucrative searches).

For most general web users, Brave is the most successful browser they've never heard of. But perhaps more people know it than you might expect. Otherwise, how could Brave have generated $25 million in revenue in Q1 2025, most of which came from the search ads product built into its browser. Still, there is a glimmer of hope for search engines that want to quickly build up their own index.

"You'll notice that we don't sell the No. 1, 2 slots in search - like some of our competitors do," he said at Recode's CodeCommerce conference that year, positioning Walmart.com as the anti-Amazon in its approach to search results. Six years later, that line has all but faded. Sponsored listings now routinely appear at the top of Walmart's search results, pushing organic products further down the page. It's a shift that mirrors the evolution of Amazon's marketplace, where paid placements have become a core part of the shopping experience.

Search advertising revenue increased by 15.9% in 2024, reaching $102 billion, demonstrating its dominance in the digital advertising market with 39.8% share.