Thrad's AI-conversation ads lift one publisher's blended eCPM by 55%, CTR hits 4.4%

September 12, 2026 · ExchangeWire

Appsforum London 2026 heard from Thrad, the ad network for AI conversations, about performance data from one of its publisher apps: a 66% higher eCPM than other ad partners, three times the impressions, and a 4.4% click-through rate, which lifted the app's blended eCPM by 55%. Giorgio Toledo, Thrad's COO, said "App marketers are worried about signal loss and subscription fatigue at the same time, and those are the same problem seen from two sides." Placements render as a distinct sponsored unit beside the AI assistant's response, in native formats, and publishers keep control of the interface. Thrad's network links to hundreds of demand partners and matches each ad to the query itself.

App-install campaigns become a natural performance case here, since a prompt is already an expression of intent. Thrad runs those campaigns across ChatGPT and its AI publisher network on CPC and CPM from the first day, moving to CPI and CPA once conversion data builds, with current advertisers spanning mobile games, fintech and wallet apps, rewarded apps, and productivity tools. Budgets that once funded banner buys or subscription paywalls now have a conversational surface that carries both signal and revenue, which changes how teams measure success: did the model consider the brand, did the user engage with the suggestion, and did a downstream action follow.