Marketers join OpenAI’s ad pilot, nudged by FOMO

OpenAI’s ad pilot may be the industry’s latest shiny object. But weeks into the offering going live, it’s unclear if the tech company’s ad platform offers real value to marketers — or whether they’re participating out of of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Live testing of ads in ChatGPT officially kicked off in early February with brands like Williams-Sonoma, Target and The Knot Worldwide. Brands like DSW and BEHR told Digiday about their own pilots, but have yet to point to meaningful returns from the platform’s early ad products.

A spokesperson for The Knot declined to share specifics regarding its pilot and early results. DSW said it was too early to provide findings.

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News UK turns The Times’ first-party data into synthetic audiences for advertisers 

News UK is turning The Times’ first-party data into a synthetic audience-planning tool for advertisers to plan and test campaigns, as open-web signals fade and CMOs come under growing pressure to prove ROI.

Dubbed “Times ExplorAItion,” the tool pulls together multiple data sets, including stripped-back subscriber behavior, reader panels, engagement stats and third-party PAMCo industry data, and feeds them into synthetic-audience platform Electric Twin to generate versions of key audience segments. No personally identifiable information will be used. Advertisers can use that to run surveys, pressure-test propositions, messaging and formats within seconds. The publisher is currently offering it as a value-add for branded content deals, rather than charging an extra fee. 

Behind the scenes, the system, powered by Electric Twin, has been in use for months across The Times and Sunday Times, informing subscription strategy, content decisions and product development. The Times now has 659,000 digital subscribers, up 7% in the past year, per the publisher. 

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