WPP, Omnicom become first ChatGPT Ads agency partners as India self-serve nears

August 28, 2026 · storyboard18.com

India's ChatGPT Ads rollout brings in WPP and Omnicom as the first agency partners, with OpenAI describing the partnerships as covering strategy, creative, measurement, brand safety and campaign execution. The arrangement is non-exclusive, and OpenAI says it will keep working with other agencies. More than 50 brands intend to go live with ads on ChatGPT in India this week, reaching logged-in adults on the Free and Go tiers while Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education subscribers stay ad-free. Self-serve access to ChatGPT Ads Manager follows on September 4, when businesses can sign up directly with daily budgets starting at ₹725.

Self-serve buying opening days after the partnership announcement raises a question about what agencies will own in conversational advertising, since direct-to-consumer brands can sign into Ads Manager the same way WPP or Omnicom clients would. Gowthaman Ragothaman of Saptharushi said self-serve access "could significantly dilute the value of being an early agency partner" once the same tools sit open to everybody. Other executives expect agency roles to shift toward strategy and measurement work: Gopa Menon of theblurr sees remuneration moving toward value-based tech and consulting retainers, and Akshay Mathur of Unpromptd said agencies will need to build out conversation strategy, prompt-context creative and measurement frameworks alongside media buying. WPP's push into the partnership comes as the group works to stabilize revenue that fell 4.7% like-for-like in the first half of 2026, while Omnicom's enlarged scale after acquiring Interpublic Group gives it a chance to show how that size translates into an edge in AI-led advertising.