The ‘terribly late’ ad product

In a conversation between two of the leading analysts on the future of technology and advertising, Ben Thompson hosted Mobile Dev Memo’s Eric Seufert on the Stratechery podcast for an “analysis royale” on ads — particularly OpenAI.

Among the “hot takes”

Both agreed OpenAI is “terribly late” in launching an ad product, and that affiliate advertising is not the answer for ChatGPT.

Mr. Seufert said:

“OpenAI needs to launch its ads product today, that needs to be introduced now, they cannot wait. It’s not only important for OpenAI at this point, if people are looking at OpenAI and saying, “Look, this is a structural economic risk given the integration”, they need to launch it today just to make sure that there’s a path cleared for investors to remain excited about this, but the thing is Google is monetizing it now. Google has applied its monetization engine now to AI Overviews and AI Mode and it is monetizing it at parity, and it’s driving more engagement, so they are winning…”

On OpenAI posturing on ads strategy to date, Stratechery’s Thompson was emphatic:

“…it feels like there’s a real ‘We have to get this right’ [at OpenAI] and you don’t get things right on the Internet. What you do is you launch, you learn and you iterate and that comes down to speed and it comes down to just doing it. The longer they wait, the more the pressure there is to get it right. You’re actually in a… vicious cycle. You’re putting so much pressure on this initial launch to have it right —whereas if [OpenAI] had just thrown out an ad product within say six months of ChatGPT blowing up, it would’ve been bad and ridiculous, it wouldn’t have worked… but they didn’t. And now we’re coming up on what, two, three years on…

More ‘takes’:

Thompson: “ChatGPT really is competing with Meta and not Google.”
Seufert: “OpenAI doesn’t seem to be operating with that much urgency in terms of building a principal, durable, growth oriented, viable business.”

Hear the hour-long podcast available through Stratechery here. (November 20 – subscription)

From tipsheet: A “prove it” point of view is starting to pervade all things AI. And OpenAI is the main focus -especially with the latest swoon in the stock market.

Related: “Internal memo: Sam Altman told OpenAI employees last month that Google’s recent progress in AI could ‘create some temporary economic headwinds for our company’” (November 20) – The Information (subscription)

LLMS & CHATBOTS

Developments

Early experiments in accelerating science with GPT-5 (November 20) – OpenAI
White House prepares executive order to block state AI laws (November 19) – Politico
“You can now use ChatGPT with your friends! Group chats are now rolling out globally to Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans so you can make ChatGPT a multiplayer experience when you want.” (November 20) – Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications, OpenAI on LinkedIn

LLMS & CHATBOTS

Instant Checkout starts

Last night, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein confirmed that some of Shopify’s storefronts had started selling on ChatGPT through OpenAI’s Instant Checkout product, which was announced in late September. Finkelstein wrote on X:

“Well…selling in ChatGPT is now live! Shopify merchants Glossier, Spanx, and Skims are the first to launch with more rolling out very very soon…”

Read a bit more. (November 20)

Shopify’s commerce partnership with OpenAI had been announced in April. See that one.

Screenshot of Glossier products for sale in ChatGPT using Instant Checkout:

Shopify selling through ChatGPT

From tipsheet: Just in time for Black Friday. Presumably this signals the beginning of affiliate marketing by OpenAI and a rev share on products sold through Instant Checkout.

AGENCIES

Client win for WPP’s AI platform

“I couldn’t be more excited about our partnership with Henkel and their decision to expand our remit to cover all 30 of their markets in Europe.(…)

I’m also so proud of our team for the way they’ve delivered over the last 11 months. We’ve already used WPP Open to launch more than 900 campaigns for Henkel’s brands, dramatically improving speed to market. This decision reflects the exciting new capabilities we’ve built as WPP Media.”

Brian Lesser, CEO, WPP Media on LinkedIn yesterday (November 20)

TECH

Nano Banana image model gets upgrade

Following the release of its Gemini 3 model earlier this week, Google released Nano Banana Pro (a.k.a. Gemini 3 Pro Image) yesterday, its latest image generation and editing model.

Ads impact

Google VP of Global Ads Dan Taylor distilled the impact for the advertising industry on LinkedIn:

“Nano Banana Pro is now in Google Ads and will soon be available to all advertisers globally. Here’s what this means for marketers:

– We are putting a strategic creative partner inside our core advertising products, providing professional-grade power to businesses of all sizes.

– Built on Gemini 3 Pro, this model uses advanced reasoning to understand the intent behind a prompt to generate creative concepts that were once unimaginable.

– It delivers granular control and precision, allowing advertisers to create brand-compliant assets in seconds, without the need for a massive production budget…”

RESEARCH

Ad tech O.G. launches startup

Ad tech executive and entrepreneur John Donahue announced his new programmatic startup called Biddable Assets. Powered by AI and machine learning, the company positions itself as “a customizable & actionable algorithm platform for large-scale biddable media advertising investments.”

Mr. Donahue shared on LinkedIn yesterday:

“We have been busy building building product since fall last year and have a live product in market driving results within the custom algorithm space. We will conducting a selects closed beta in 1H next year so reach out to me if you think you meet the following criteria…”

SELL-SIDE

Creator ad spend grows in U.S.

If AI is making it easier for creators to create, it’s also making it easier for marketers to spend on creators. A new study from the IAB says “U.S. creator ad spend is projected to reach $37 billion in 2025, up 26% year-over-year and nearly 4x faster than the media industry’s overall growth.”

Read: 2025 Creator Economy Ad Spend & Strategy Report (November 20) – IAB (Member login required)

PLATFORMS

UI pushback for AI platform

Sources told Adweek’s Kendra Barnett that The Trade Desk is pushing buyers to its Kokai platform interface. Previewing her story on LinkedIn, Barnett shared:

“Some media buyers say they’re being ‘forcibly migrated’ to The Trade Desk’s AI-powered media buying platform Kokai, and, for the first time, locked out of creating new campaigns in the legacy interface, Solimar. The change appears to be part of the DSP’s push to get all of its clients onto Kokai (something CEO Jeff Green cited in February as a goal for the year), despite ongoing blowback over user experience.”

PEOPLE MOVES

Now hiring

“Excited to join the Global Monetization Product and Technology Partnerships team at TikTok to help drive various key initiatives for Data Licensing, Integrations, and Measurement!” (November 20) – Chris Lee, TikTok on LinkedIn

Opinion: “Marketing And AI Tools: Putting The ‘I’ In AI” (November 20) – Monica Alvarez-Mitchell, Pulse Creative on Forbes
Cannes Lions changes reflect the convergence of tech and creativity – Damian Fowler on The Trade Desk’s The Current
The ad business lost jobs in September while US employment rose and the jobless rate edged up (November 20) – Ad Age
AI in Ad Tech: Is It Evolution, Revolution, or “Too Early to Tell”? (November 20) – Admonsters

The ‘terribly late’ ad product

Among the “hot takes”

LLMS & CHATBOTS

Developments

LLMS & CHATBOTS

Instant Checkout starts

AGENCIES

Client win for WPP’s AI platform

TECH

Nano Banana image model gets upgrade

Ads impact

RESEARCH

Ad tech O.G. launches startup

SELL-SIDE

Creator ad spend grows in U.S.

PLATFORMS

UI pushback for AI platform

PEOPLE MOVES

Now hiring

MORE