In bad news for ChatGPT's ad business, a new study indicates that the company's ads generate far less revenue per visit than traditional Google Search ads.

The report comes by way of researchers at WU Vienna and the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. In their report, they acknowledge that advertising could be a way for AI companies to continue offering their service for free, but there are inherent challenges with the effectiveness of those ads.

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In particular, ChatGPT ads were found to generate significantly less revenue than Google Search ads.

In US traffic, a paid ChatGPT visit generated $0.89 in revenue per session against $2.45 for a paid Google Search visit, a 64% shortfall. Paid ChatGPT visitors converted at 0.37% versus 1.17%.

In addition, there is a significant disparity in the price of what the clicks are worth.