ChatGPT Ads Earn a Third of What Google Search Ads Do
Publishers are now suing the layer AI answers are built on. The New York Times and three Tribune papers filed suit against Brave Software, alleging its search index and search API resell their journalism to AI companies and that Ask Brave answers keep readers from clicking through. If index reselling infringes, the same logic could reach Bing and Google.
Next, a working paper from Kaiser and Schulze ("Can Advertising Fund Free AI?", Oct 2026, ~1,900 shops, ~10 billion sessions) finds a paid US ChatGPT visit brought in $0.89 in revenue versus $2.45 for a paid Google Search visit, with conversion at 0.37% versus 1.17%. Paris asks whether ChatGPT ads are a brand channel priced like performance. Organic ChatGPT referrals to shops fell an estimated 5.9% in the 13 weeks after ads launched, though the confidence range includes zero.
Also in this episode:
- Google's Gary Illyes: nothing to announce yet on AI clicks and queries in Search Console, with the UK CMA requiring AI impressions, clicks, and CTR by December 3. Action: baseline your AI impressions by page now.
- AI Overviews for brand names (Apple, Zillow, Coca-Cola) spotted in the right-hand knowledge panel slot on desktop, flagged by David McSweeney and Chris Long. Action: search your own brand this week and screenshot it.
- Turkey's competition authority opens a formal probe into AI Overviews and AI Mode, with interim measures for news publishers. It is the third regulator after Brussels and London.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5sxH3XQkD3A
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