Platform information: ChatGPT Ads are developing and platform requirements can change. This article was last reviewed on 11 September 2026. Shays Media rechecks material platform information before relying on it for client decisions.
The short answer
As checked on 11 September 2026, self-service Ads Manager is available to UK businesses. That's a status, not a permanent fact — it should be reconfirmed against OpenAI's current Ads Manager Availability page before you rely on it, because availability by country is exactly the kind of thing a beta platform changes without much notice.
Availability is only the first gate, though. Whether a specific business can actually run ads depends on a few separate things: where the advertising entity is legally based, whether the account passes OpenAI's verification and setup process, and whether the product or service being advertised is currently permitted under OpenAI's Advertising Policies.
The legal entity has to be based in an available country
OpenAI's position on self-service Ads Manager is that the legal entity doing the advertising — the one that gets billed — has to be based in a country where self-service is available. For a UK business advertising as a UK-registered entity, with the UK on the current availability list, that's straightforward. It becomes a more careful conversation for businesses with a more complicated corporate structure, or where the entity that would naturally advertise isn't the one currently eligible.
This is a detail worth getting right before setup begins, not after — the account is tied to that entity from creation.
Setting up the advertiser account
Eligible business advertisers can create their own accounts. That process currently involves business and account details, identity/business verification, completing account information, setting up billing and a payment method, and inviting team members. Campaigns won't deliver until that setup and any required review is complete.
We've covered the practical setup steps in more depth in How to Set Up a ChatGPT Ads Advertiser Account. The point relevant here is narrower: OpenAI's current self-service setup is for eligible business advertisers and — importantly for anyone working with an agency — agencies creating advertiser accounts on a client's behalf aren't currently supported.
How the agency relationship actually works
This is worth stating plainly, because it's a common point of confusion and it shapes how Shays Media operates: the client creates the advertiser account and retains control of the advertiser relationship and billing. Shays Media is invited afterwards with the access needed to manage the agreed work. OpenAI's current setup process doesn't support an agency setting up an account for a client and then handing it over. Instead, the client goes through account creation themselves, and the agency is invited afterwards as an authorised user on that account.
Practically, that means:
- the advertiser account belongs to the client, not to Shays Media;
- billing sits with the client, paid directly to OpenAI;
- each advertiser needs their own account — there's no shared or pooled account structure;
- Shays Media is invited onto the account once it exists, rather than creating it.
There's a reason this matters beyond process. Under OpenAI's current Advertising Terms, an advertising intermediary — which is what an agency is in this context — needs a written agreement in place with the advertiser before submitting a campaign, covering the authority to act on the advertiser's behalf and the advertiser's obligations under OpenAI's terms. That written-authority requirement is separate from account ownership, but both are important parts of working with a client account properly. The current Advertising Terms set out the exact obligations.
OpenAI keeps control, whoever's managing the account
Whether you set the account up yourself or an agency manages it for you, OpenAI retains control over advertiser eligibility, campaign acceptance, inventory and delivery, and policy enforcement. No agency — Shays Media included — can guarantee that an account will be approved, that a campaign will be accepted, or that a given level of inventory or delivery will follow. That's OpenAI's decision, made against its own policies, not something a management fee can influence.
Product and service eligibility — the part that changes
OpenAI's Advertising Policies set out which advertisers and products are eligible to advertise, and where ad placement is and isn't appropriate — including sensitive or brand-unsafe conversation contexts, where ads generally shouldn't appear regardless of the advertiser.
We're deliberately not reproducing a list of "allowed" and "disallowed" industries here. Policy content like this changes — OpenAI's current Ad Policies were themselves updated as recently as 10 September 2026 — and a static list on a blog page becomes actively misleading the moment it's out of date, worse than no list at all, because it looks authoritative. If eligibility for your specific product or service category matters to your decision, the answer is to check OpenAI's current Advertising Policies directly, or raise it as part of a Fit Check, rather than rely on a general guide.
Some categories are also market-specific and can involve additional manual approval beyond the general eligibility rules — regulated financial products and certain professional services are examples of the kind of category where this comes up. That's a reason to check your specific category properly rather than assume a general "advertising is available in the UK" answer settles it, and it isn't something we can turn into a blanket promise that any particular regulated advertiser will be approved.
What to actually check before you apply
- Is your advertising entity legally based in a country where self-service Ads Manager is currently available?
- Does your product or service fall within OpenAI's current Advertising Policies?
- Do you have what verification is likely to require — business details, a working website, accurate account information?
- If you're planning to work with an agency, do you understand that you'll create and own the account, with the agency invited afterwards?
None of these questions have permanent answers. They're worth asking again close to the point of application, not just once at the research stage.
Check Your Fit — the Fit Check includes a policy and eligibility read specific to your situation, rather than a generic checklist. Prefer to talk it through first? Contact us via the Contact page.
A few questions people ask at this stage
Can you create my advertiser account for me? No. OpenAI's current process doesn't support agencies creating advertiser accounts on a client's behalf. You create and own the account; Shays Media is invited afterwards as an authorised user.
Does Shays Media guarantee my advertiser account will be approved? No, and no agency honestly can. OpenAI retains control over advertiser eligibility and account approval — that decision sits with OpenAI, against its own policies, not with whoever is managing the account.
Is Shays Media part of OpenAI? No. Shays Media is an independent advertising service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or an official partner of OpenAI.