SURREY, B.C. - OpenAI switched on ChatGPT Ads in 26 more countries on Wednesday, and two names on the list will register in Surrey households: Bangladesh and Pakistan. The expansion takes ChatGPT advertising to 89 countries, just over eight months after the first ads appeared, and OpenAI says more than 100,000 advertisers have now run campaigns.
Canada is not one of the 26. OpenAI’s Ads Manager availability page already listed Canada before this expansion, so nothing changes for users or advertisers in Surrey today. What changes is what family members back home will see. Anyone in Lahore, Karachi, Dhaka or Chattogram who uses the free version of ChatGPT, or its low cost Go plan, is now in a market where ads can appear inside the conversation, picked for the question being asked at that moment. For Surrey, with one of the largest Pakistani communities in Canada and a growing Bangladeshi community, it is a reminder of where the money in artificial intelligence is starting to flow: toward the attention of ordinary users, in markets where Surrey families still have deep roots.
What OpenAI announced
In its October 21 release, OpenAI said it is bringing ChatGPT Ads to 14 more Latin American countries, following earlier launches in Mexico and Brazil, and to more markets across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The company said advertising helps support free and low cost access to ChatGPT, and it put the audience at more than 1.2 billion people using ChatGPT each week.
The growth in advertisers is the other headline. OpenAI was describing its advertiser base as “tens of thousands” as recently as September. Eight months after launch, that figure is now over 100,000, according to the company.
The 26 new countries
OpenAI’s release names 11 of the 26 countries directly. The full list of 26, which matches the 89 countries now on OpenAI’s Ads Manager availability page, is:
Latin America and the Caribbean (14): Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.
Africa (3): Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
Europe and Central Asia (5): Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
South and Southeast Asia (4): Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
How ChatGPT ads work
OpenAI says ads appear only on the Free and Go plans. Plus, Pro and Enterprise subscriptions remain ad free. The company states the rules it says govern the system: ads are clearly labeled and separate from ChatGPT’s answers, advertising does not influence the answers, conversations are kept private from advertisers, and OpenAI does not sell customer data. In its earlier expansion releases, OpenAI has also said people have control over ad personalization.
The pitch to advertisers is the moment of consideration. OpenAI gives the example of someone training for a first marathon who explores meal ideas for race week, then narrows the options by dietary preference and cooking time. An ad relevant to that conversation, the company says, could introduce a grocery delivery service the person had not considered.
Businesses in the new countries can access ChatGPT Ads through technology partners or through self service sign up in Ads Manager at ads.openai.com. In its August Europe release, OpenAI described a platform that has moved beyond cost per impression and cost per click bidding to conversion optimization, geo targeting and custom audiences, with measurement through the OpenAI Pixel and the Conversions API.
What it means for Surrey businesses and publishers
Surrey businesses already divide their marketing budgets mainly between Google and Meta. ChatGPT is now another shelf in the same store, with one difference: the customer is in the middle of a conversation, often asking what to buy, where to go or which service to use. OpenAI’s geo targeting means a business can aim campaigns at a specific country or market, which cuts both ways for Surrey. Local firms gain a new channel into the diaspora’s home markets, and firms in Pakistan and Bangladesh can use the same tools to reach buyers abroad, including in Canada.
For local news publishers, the shift matters for a plainer reason. Every new advertising platform competes for the same marketing dollars that fund journalism, and ad money tends to follow audience attention. As more product research moves from search results and social feeds into AI answers, businesses that once bought visibility next to news content can increasingly buy visibility inside the answer itself. OpenAI says its next phase will add more ad formats, objectives, buying options and measurement tools.
Eight months from a pilot to 89 countries
The speed of the rollout is the background story. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT with a pilot in the United States in February 2026. It then expanded to eight additional markets, announced 31 European countries on August 18, with self service access by August 31, and added seven Southeast Asian markets and Taiwan in September, taking availability past 60 countries. At the end of August, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Ads had reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate in less than 200 days after launch. Wednesday’s expansion takes the total to 89 countries.
Questions Surrey readers are asking
Does this change anything for ChatGPT users in Surrey?
No. Canada was already on OpenAI’s Ads Manager availability list before the October 21 expansion. Ads show only to users on the Free and Go plans, in Canada as elsewhere, and paid plans stay ad free.
Can a Surrey business advertise on ChatGPT?
Canadian businesses were already able to access ChatGPT Ads through partners or self service in Ads Manager. OpenAI directs interested businesses to ads.openai.com.
Do the ads change the answers ChatGPT gives?
OpenAI says they do not. Its stated position is that ads are clearly labeled, kept separate from answers, and that advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides. Those are OpenAI’s claims about its own system, and the rules it says users can hold it to.
Sources: OpenAI, “ChatGPT Ads expands to 26 new countries as over 100,000 advertisers have used the platform,” October 21, 2026; OpenAI Help Center, “Ads Manager Availability,” checked October 21, 2026; OpenAI, “ChatGPT Ads expands across Europe,” August 18, 2026; OpenAI, “ChatGPT Ads expands to Southeast Asia and Taiwan,” September 2026.
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