OpenAI will begin testing ChatGPT ads in the US
Ads in ChatGPT could give advertisers a new, high-intent way to reach users directly within relevant conversations.
OpenAI will start testing ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. in the coming weeks. The ads will appear at the bottom of responses, be clearly labeled, and only show when a sponsored product or service is relevant to the conversation.
- Who will see ads: Logged-in adult users on the free tier and users on ChatGPT Go, OpenAI’s $8/month low-cost subscription.
- Who won’t see ads: Users on ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. Also, users under age 18.
Gemini lets users connect Google app to personalise AI responses
Personal Intelligence lets users link selected Google apps with one tap, reason across information stored in connected apps, and retrieve specific details
Google has begun rolling out a new beta feature in its Gemini app that allows users to personalise responses by connecting their Google apps, starting in the United States. The update focuses on linking personal data from apps such as Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube and Search to tailor answers more closely to individual users.
The feature, called Personal Intelligence, lets users connect selected Google apps with a single tap. The connections are optional and turned off by default. Users can choose which apps to link and can disable the feature at any time. Google said the goal is to make the chatbot more responsive to personal context while keeping user control and privacy central.
Flipkart to Launch Conversational AI Shopping Assistant ‘SLAP’
Flipkart will launch a new conversational AI shopping assistant called Shop Like a Pro (SLAP) next week, according to an Economic Times report. The company will introduce the tool as a standalone app, replacing its earlier AI assistant, Flippi, which it announced in 2023.
SLAP is designed to help users shop through conversation. It will initially offer personalised product recommendations, suggest items based on user needs, and answer customer queries. People familiar with the development told The Economic Times that Flipkart has created a separate team to work on the product and plans to roll it out in phases.
India’s online video market seen doubling
India’s online video and OTT landscape is undergoing a monumental shift, with total industry revenue projected to more than double from $4.31 billion in 2024 to a staggering $9.17 billion by 2030. While subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) continues to scale—heading toward a milestone of 357 million subscriptions—the true engine of this growth is digital advertising.
According to Media Partner Asia report, advertising-supported models (AVOD) are expected to account for over 70% of incremental growth by the end of the decade, driven by surging mobile broadband penetration and a high-volume, low-ARPU market. As major players like YouTube and JioHotstar scale their reach, the industry is moving decisively toward an ad-centric future, fundamentally redefining how digital content is monetized in one of the world’s most competitive digital video ecosystems.
The MPA report combines both subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) and advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) into a single, comparable framework, offering a clearer picture of how scale, reach and competitive power stack up across the full online video ecosystem. Using this approach, the report estimates India’s total online video industry revenue at about $9.17 billion, growing at a compound annual rate of roughly 12%.
Quick-commerce firms to drop 10-minute delivery promise
India’s labor ministry is pushing the country’s booming quick-commerce sector to prioritize the wellness and safety of its gig workers.
The country’s minister of labor and employment, Mansukh Mandaviya, met with executives from Zomato’s Blinkit, Swiggy’s Instamart, and Zepto to ask them to drop their marketing language, which promises deliveries within 10 minutes, and discuss ways to improve safety and working conditions for delivery personnel, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.
While the instant delivery model has faltered elsewhere, it’s taken off in India at an unprecedented rate in the past few years as consumers in urban cities have come to expect having everything from PlayStation 5s to groceries delivered within 10 to 15 minutes.
Third-Party Sources Drive 85% of Brand Discovery
Owned content is the baseline for earning visibility in AI search.
AI systems establish credibility through external recognition and consistent narratives across trusted sources. This validates what others say about a brand, not just what the brand says about itself.
Our analysis of 21,311 brand mentions across ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity found that brands mentioned in AI search for top-of-funnel commercial queries are 6.5x more likely to come from third-party content than the brand itself.
In this environment, owned and earned visibility must work together. Owned content provides the foundation of accuracy and authority, while third-party validation amplifies that credibility.
YouTube mentions show the strongest correlation with AI visibility
Expanding on one of our most popular AI Overview studies, we’ve analyzed 75,000 brands to see which search factors are most likely to influence brand mentions in ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.
Let’s get into it.
Key takeaways
- YouTube mentions show the strongest correlation with AI visibility (~0.737), outperforming every other factor across ChatGPT, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.
- YouTube mentions correlate slightly more strongly than YouTube mention impressions across all platforms (~0.737 vs ~0.717).
- Branded web mentions still correlate highly with AI visibility (0.66–0.71).
- ChatGPT shows weaker correlations with classic authority metrics—like branded search volume (0.352) and DR (0.266).
- There is almost no relationship between content volume—number of site pages (~0.194)—and AI visibility.
From BC Web Wise Stable
And this week sharing an authored article published in ET Edge by our founder on AI is changing marketing strategy and data is driving the shift; we would love to know your thoughts on it.
