Similarweb’s new tracking tool reveals how heavily OpenAI and Google monetize AI chats. This ad tracking feature across conversational AI could be the change digital marketing needs right now.
Marketers no longer need to guess what ads their competitors run inside AI chatbots. The digital analytics firm Similarweb launched “AI Ads,” an intelligence tool that tracks sponsored placements inside ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Google AI Overviews.
The data exposes a massive shift in digital advertising. Similarweb found that sponsored ads appear in 26% of ChatGPT responses on free tiers. Meanwhile, Google inserts ads into nearly 30% of eligible AI Mode queries and over 40% of standard search AI Overviews.
Advertisers were operating in total darkness until today.
Meta and Google run public ad libraries for traditional search and social media feeds. However, OpenAI and Google offer zero public transparency for their AI interfaces in contrast. Media buyers routinely spend ad budgets without knowing if, where, or how their creative appears during interactive chat sessions.
Similarweb solves this problem by tracking real human panel conversations instead of sending automated bots. Automated bots miss crucial moments because AI ads typically trigger later in a conversation, right when a user’s purchase intent sharpens.
This tool offers brands the much-needed visibility, but it also signals something more: the Wild West era of conversational AI takes a back seat.
Marketers, in this day and age, need real data to measure performance and hold tech giants accountable. And this is critical, especially as platforms turn interactive chat into lucrative ad space.
