Sponsored agents are ads you can talk to. Instead of a banner that links to a website, a sponsored agent opens a conversation with a brand's AI assistant, which answers questions about products, prices and policies on the spot.
For 25 years, online ads have worked the same way: show a picture, hope for a click, send people to a landing page. In September 2026, OpenAI started testing a format that skips the landing page entirely. Google has a similar product inside Search ads.
This guide explains what sponsored agents are, where they are live today, how they differ from the ads you know, and what marketers need to learn to run them.
What Are Sponsored Agents?
A sponsored agent is a brand-run AI chatbot that a person opens by clicking an ad inside an AI assistant or search engine. The conversation is clearly labelled as sponsored and is separate from the assistant's own answers. It answers questions about the advertiser's products or services in real time.
The flow is simple. A user sees a relevant ad, clicks it, and lands in a dedicated chat with the business's agent instead of a website (Scalevise).
That changes the job of an ad. It no longer has to explain everything in a headline and an image. It only has to start a conversation, and the agent does the rest: answering doubts, comparing options and guiding the next step.
Research firm eMarketer called the format a glimpse of AI-native advertising, because it is built around the personal, back-and-forth nature of AI chat (eMarketer).
Where Sponsored Agents Are Live Today
Sponsored agents are live as tests on two platforms: OpenAI is piloting them inside ChatGPT ads with selected advertisers, and Google offers a similar product, Business Agent for Leads, inside Search ads. Neither is widely available yet.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Sep 16, 2026 | OpenAI begins testing Sponsored Agents, with HubSpot and Shopify named as first partners. |
| Sep 2026 | Digiday verifies the format on video; Wayfair confirms it is in the pilot. |
| Aug 2026 | ChatGPT ads expand to India. |
| Feb 2026 | OpenAI starts testing ads for ChatGPT's Free and Go plans in the US. |
Google's version, Business Agent for Leads, places a brand's agent inside Search ads.
Privacy: the source material states that advertisers cannot see a user's private ChatGPT history. They can see messages a user chooses to send them through the ad.
Banner Ad vs Sponsored Agent
A banner ad shows a message and hopes for a click. A sponsored agent starts a conversation and answers the customer's actual question. The goal moves from attention to assistance.
| Factor | Banner or display ad | Sponsored agent |
|---|---|---|
| What the user sees | Image, headline, button | A labelled chat with the brand |
| Where the click goes | A landing page | A conversation inside the AI app |
| How doubts are handled | They are not, unless the page answers them | The agent answers in real time |
| Personalisation | Same ad for a whole audience | Every reply fits the user's question |
| What the marketer writes | Headlines and visuals | Agent knowledge, tone and guardrails |
| What gets measured | Impressions, clicks, CTR | Conversations, questions, leads, sales |
The catch: no public evidence yet shows that sponsored agents improve conversions or return on ad spend. For now, they belong in small test budgets, not in your main media plan.
How Brands Should Prepare for Sponsored Agents: 5 Steps
Brands can prepare for sponsored agents today by building a reliable knowledge base, testing a chatbot on their own channels, and setting clear rules for what the agent may and may not say. When the format opens up, the brands with this groundwork will launch first.
- Write down every customer question. Collect FAQs from sales calls, WhatsApp chats and reviews. This becomes your agent's script.
- Build a clean knowledge base. Prices, policies, product details and delivery terms should all be accurate and in one place.
- Set guardrails. Decide what the agent must never promise, such as discounts, guarantees or medical and financial claims.
- Test on your own channels first. Run an AI chat assistant on your website or WhatsApp Business. Learn what people ask before paying for ad placements.
- Plan new metrics. Track conversations started, questions answered, leads captured and handoffs to a human, not just clicks.
Brands that already run good WhatsApp or website chatbots are closest to ready. A sponsored agent is that same assistant, placed inside an ad.
New Skills Marketers Will Need
Running sponsored agents calls for a new mix of skills: conversation design, prompt writing, knowledge base management and chatbot analytics, on top of classic ad strategy. Marketers who learn these early will be the first hired to run AI-native ad campaigns.
| Skill | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Conversation design | Planning how the agent greets, asks, answers and closes. |
| Prompt and instruction writing | Telling the agent its tone, limits and goals in plain language. |
| Knowledge base management | Keeping product and policy information accurate and current. |
| Chatbot and WhatsApp automation | Building and testing assistants on owned channels. |
| Conversational analytics | Reading chat data to find objections and buying signals. |
| Compliance awareness | Knowing which claims an agent must never make. |
Copywriting does not disappear. It changes shape. Instead of writing one perfect headline, marketers will write the personality and knowledge of an agent that talks to thousands of people at once.
It also connects with the wider shift toward machine customers and B2A marketing, where AI agents increasingly influence how products are researched and shortlisted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a sponsored agent in advertising?
A sponsored agent is a brand-run AI chatbot that opens when a person clicks an ad inside an AI assistant or search engine. It is labelled as sponsored and answers questions about the advertiser's products or services in a live conversation, instead of sending the person to a landing page.
Are sponsored agents available in India?
Not widely yet. OpenAI's Sponsored Agents are a limited test with selected advertisers, and Google's Business Agent for Leads is also limited. ChatGPT's regular ads reached India in August 2026, so Indian brands should prepare their knowledge base and chatbots now.
Do sponsored agents influence ChatGPT's answers?
OpenAI says no. Ads and sponsored agent conversations are kept separate from ChatGPT's own responses. The brand's agent only speaks inside the labelled conversation a user chooses to open after clicking the ad.
Can advertisers see my ChatGPT history?
According to OpenAI, advertisers cannot see a user's private ChatGPT history or memory. They can see the messages a user chooses to send to their sponsored agent during that conversation.
Will sponsored agents replace landing pages?
Not completely. Sponsored agents can answer questions and qualify leads inside the chat, but brands still need websites for detail, trust and checkout. Expect both to work together, with the agent handling quick questions and the website handling deeper research.
The Bottom Line
The banner ad is not dead yet, but its replacement is already in testing. The next generation of ads will not just show people something. They will talk to them, answer their doubts and guide their decisions. The marketers who know how to design those conversations will lead the next era of advertising.
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