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Topics we'll cover today:
💠 ChatGPT Ads Is Growing Up Fast
💠 Meta Just Put More Growth Tools Behind a Subscription
💠 Latest news in the DTC space

Late last week, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein announced multiple relevant updates.

One of them was something most ChatGPT Ads early adopters I know have been screaming for. 🙌

But that wasn't the only one.

ChatGPT Ads just got A LOT more interesting.

Let's go through the biggest updates.

This is probably the biggest one for e-commerce merchants.

US-based Shopify stores can now install the ChatGPT Ads app and connect their:

From there, they can create campaigns and track performance.

What does this mean?

You can now run Product Feed campaigns on ChatGPT Ads, similar to Meta's Catalog campaigns.

Why is this a big deal?

Because before this update, populating and syncing a product feed was a complete nightmare!!!

It was enough to make you lose interest in running ads on the channel because it was unbelievably difficult to do properly, especially compared to Meta and Google.

International availability is expected later this month.

Conversion optimization with impression billing is now generally available.

Previously, optimization was heavily tied to what happened after someone clicked your ad.

Now, ChatGPT can optimize toward conversions generated after an ad click or view.

You'll pay based on impressions while delivery optimizes toward your conversion goal.

According to OpenAI, this is now their recommended campaign type for maximizing performance.

This is an important step.

Because the platform is slowly moving beyond simply "getting traffic" and giving advertisers more tools to actually optimize toward business outcomes.

Advertisers can now choose between:

And:

If you're comparing ChatGPT Ads against Meta, Google, or your blended numbers, being able to control the attribution window makes those comparisons much more useful.

You can now separately target:

You can also break down performance by platform.

Again, this sounds like basic functionality if you've been running Meta or Google Ads for years.

But that's exactly the point.

ChatGPT Ads is starting to get many of the controls advertisers expect from a mature ad platform.

ChatGPT is also testing AI-assisted ad creation.

When creating an ad, it can suggest copy and images, based on your landing page and campaign objective.

You can then review and edit everything before adding it to your campaign.

No surprises here.

If there's one ad platform you'd expect to heavily integrate AI into the creation process, it's probably ChatGPT. 😅

This one may end up being much more interesting.

Advertisers can opt into text customization.

ChatGPT can adapt your existing headlines and descriptions based on the context of the conversation.

It can also translate your ad copy into the user's preferred language.

Think about the difference compared to traditional advertising.

Normally, you create an ad and show roughly the same message to thousands of people.

Here, the platform can potentially adapt that message based on what the person is actually talking about.

That could become a pretty significant advantage if it works well.

There's also a new Event Quality Score inside Tools > Conversions.

Eligible Pixel and Conversions API setups receive a score from 1 to 10 based on things like user data coverage.

ChatGPT will then give you recommendations to improve your conversion tracking setup.

Think Meta's Event Match Quality.

And given how important data quality is for optimization, this is definitely something I'd keep an eye on.

Finally, ChatGPT is testing something very different with select US advertisers:

Sponsored Agents.

After clicking an ad, instead of immediately leaving ChatGPT, users may be able to start a clearly labeled conversation with an agent sponsored by the advertiser.

They could ask questions.
Compare options.
Learn more about the product.
Potentially address objections before visiting the website.

This might be the update I'm most curious about.

Because if it works, the ad itself may eventually become only the beginning of the sales experience.

The conversation becomes part of it.

And that's something Meta and Google don't really have today.

So...where is ChatGPT Ads heading?

ChatGPT Ads still has a long way to go.

But it's starting to look much more like a real performance marketing platform.

And it's happening FAST.

Check out our ChatGPT Ads Guide.

Need more help? Let's talk.

Have you started running ChatGPT Ads?

And if so, which of these updates are you most interested in testing?

Comment below. 👇

--
Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content in the e-commerce space.

Meta just launched Meta One, a new subscription that bundles paid features across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI.

And for brands, some of the features are pretty interesting.

The professional plans start at $14.99/month, with higher tiers at $49.99, $149, and $499/month.

Depending on the tier, businesses can get access to things like:

One feature that immediately caught my attention is the ability to add links directly to organic Reels and posts.

Think about the current journey:

Reel → Profile → Link in bio → Product page

Now you could potentially shorten it to:

Reel → Product page

For e-commerce brands, that's an obvious feature to test.

But the release is also creating an interesting discussion among marketers and creators.

Some see Meta One as finally giving businesses enough useful tools to justify paying for a subscription.

Others are asking a different question:

Are we slowly moving toward a world where organic social becomes increasingly pay-to-play too?

Meta says the core experience remains free.

At the same time, some of the paid plans include features designed to increase visibility, turn engagement into followers, improve conversion paths, and give businesses better tools to manage their presence.

I'm not sure we know the answer yet.

And, more importantly, we don't know whether any of these features will produce enough incremental revenue to justify the subscription.

For a DTC brand, though, that's probably the right way to think about Meta One.

Not:

"Do I like the idea of paying Meta another subscription?"

But:

"Can one of these features generate more incremental profit than it costs me?"

For $49.99/month, that threshold isn't particularly high.

So I'm curious what merchants think.

Will you test Meta One?

📰 Meta 2026 Holiday Playbook [read more]
📰 Google Search Product Listings Tests Linking Directly To Merchant Site [read more]📰 Google brings AI shopping tools to YouTube and Merchant Center [read more]

If you found this interesting, please leave us a review. It’d mean the world to me.

Brian Roisentul is the founder & CEO of BSR, a growth marketing agency he started in 2013 to help e-commerce brands unlock hidden revenue by identifying misalignments between their marketing and customer behavior. He is also the host of The DTC Insider podcast, where he interviews thought leaders, founders, and directors in the e-commerce space.

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