In a recent LinkedIn post, Daniel Priestley explores the potential advertising opportunities emerging on ChatGPT, drawing parallels with the early days of advertising on Google and Facebook. Priestley, founder of Dent Global, shares his reflections on past digital advertising landscapes and advises on how businesses might leverage the nascent ad market on OpenAI’s popular conversational AI.
Priestley opens by noting the significant shift occurring within ChatGPT’s user experience, highlighting the platform’s experiments with advertising.
“ChatGPT is experimenting with advertising in their free subscription.”
He then casts his mind back to the initial phases of other major digital platforms, suggesting a pattern that could repeat.
Learning from Past Digital Advertising Waves
Daniel Priestley draws a direct comparison between the current situation with ChatGPT and the early advertising environments of Google and Facebook. He recalls a time when entering these platforms as an advertiser was exceptionally cost-effective due to low competition.
“I’m old enough to remember when Google started running ads and for a few years you could get warm leads for pennies,” Priestley writes. He continues, reflecting on a similar experience with Facebook’s advertising launch: “I also remember when Facebook launched ads and they had so many eyeballs and so few advertisers that it cost nothing to get clients for the first few years.”
According to Priestley, the delay in corporate adoption of new advertising channels creates a unique window of opportunity for agile businesses.
The Corporate Lag in New Ad Markets
Priestley points out that large corporations are typically slow to adopt new advertising technologies and platforms. This cautious approach, while understandable from a risk-management perspective, leaves the door open for smaller, more nimble players.
“Corporate advertisers don’t move fast on new things. They take 6 months to plan and 6 months to test before they go in heavy.”
This strategic lag, as highlighted by Priestley, means that platforms with rapidly growing user bases, like ChatGPT, can offer unprecedented reach at minimal cost before mainstream advertisers catch up.
Seizing the ChatGPT Advertising Opportunity
With ChatGPT reportedly attracting close to a billion users weekly, Daniel Priestley sees a significant, albeit temporary, market inefficiency emerging. He argues that the current user numbers, combined with a likely scarcity of advertisers in the initial stages, present a prime opportunity.
“Right now ChatGPT has almost a billion users a week. If they start running ads, they will have a lot of eyeballs and not so many advertisers until the corporates come in. There will be a window of opportunity to win customers very cheaply if you jump on it.”
Priestley expresses a degree of personal regret for not capitalizing more aggressively on the early advertising opportunities presented by Google and Facebook. He acknowledges that he “didn’t recognise how unique the moment was and I also didn’t realise how fleeting it would be.”
Based on these past experiences and observations, Daniel Priestley concludes with a call to action for his audience. He states his intention to be proactive when ChatGPT’s advertising model fully rolls out and encourages others to prepare for a similar strategy.
“When ChatGPT launches ads, I’m going to seize the day and I’d encourage you to be ready to do the same.”
In essence, Priestley’s analysis suggests that businesses looking for cost-effective customer acquisition channels should closely monitor the development of advertising on ChatGPT and be prepared to act decisively when the opportunity arises.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Daniel Priestley on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on January 17, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →