Your catalogis thecreative.
In product feed campaigns the ad title and description come straight from your feed. There is no copywriting step, which means feed quality is creative quality. OpenAI reports feed-based ads among the strongest performers in its program. We build the feed, the segmentation, and the campaigns for Shopify and DTC brands — and make the same catalog work for the organic shopping surfaces.
- Feed capacity
- 2M
- Products per feed, per OpenAI
- Feeds per account
- 1
- Segment with ads_metadata, not extra feeds
- Upload path
- SFTP
- No feed API or fetch-from-URL in the documented flow
- Surfaces served
- 3
- Paid feed ads, organic shopping, shopping research
Paid, organic,and agentic.
Three different systems inside ChatGPT draw on the same family of product feed specifications. They are separate pipes with separate opt-ins, and the catalog work compounds across all three.
| Surface | What it is | Paid or organic |
|---|---|---|
| Product feed ad campaigns | Ads generated from your catalog below relevant conversations | Paid — budget, bids, auction |
| Shopping in ChatGPT search | Organic product carousels when a query shows shopping intent | Organic — selected independently by ChatGPT |
| Shopping research | Agentic buyer's guides built partly from Agentic Commerce Protocol data | Organic — separate from ads |
Fields thatdecide delivery.
A product serves only while it is marked ads-eligible, remains available, contains usable data, and passes feed processing and review. Availability bites silently: an out_of_stock value stops the ad, which is exactly what you want if the feed refreshes fast enough to be trusted.
| Field | Constraint or role |
|---|---|
| item_id | Unique per variant |
| title | Max 150 characters |
| description | Max 5,000 characters |
| url | Must resolve |
| price / sale_price | ISO 4217 currency; sale price never above regular |
| availability | in_stock, out_of_stock, pre_order, backorder, unknown |
| image_url | JPEG or PNG, publicly reachable |
| is_ads_eligible | Routes the product to ChatGPT ads |
| is_eligible_search | Routes the product to organic shopping |
| ads_metadata | Your own key–value segmentation handles |
The feedbuild.
- 1
Audit the catalog against OpenAI's spec
Titles, descriptions, prices, availability, images, and eligibility flags checked row by row before anything is uploaded. A feed that passes Google Merchant Center is a good start, not a finished feed — the eligibility switches and metadata layer are ChatGPT-specific.
- 2
Design ads_metadata before the first upload
One feed per account and finite filters mean your segmentation has to live in the feed. We define margin bands, hero versus long-tail, seasonality windows, and price bands as metadata keys up front, so ad groups can be built and paused without re-uploading the catalog.
- 3
Set up the SFTP connection and validate
Feed created in Ads Manager → Tools → Feeds, SFTP configured with key-based auth, first upload scheduled well before launch. Large catalogs process gradually; we confirm the ready-to-serve count in the ad group modal rather than trusting the upload.
- 4
Build product feed campaigns by segment
Product feed mode is set at campaign creation and cannot be changed. We structure campaigns per catalog segment — hero products, category, margin tier — each with its own budget and bid, so the winners are visible instead of blended.
- 5
Move to conversion-optimised bidding, in sequence
oCPC for product feed campaigns is in beta. It needs conversion volume to learn from, and a catalog spreads volume thin. We move the highest-volume category first, keep the long tail on the existing model as a control, and judge on weekly cohorts.
- 6
Keep the organic surfaces in the same pipeline
The same catalog work qualifies products for shopping results in ChatGPT search and for shopping research. We set search and checkout eligibility deliberately, and for Shopify merchants confirm the Shopify Catalog integration is doing what the paid feed is not.
Built forcatalog brands.
Most of our product feed work is for Shopify and headless DTC stores in skincare, supplements, apparel, home, and consumer electronics. The pattern is the same: one clean catalog, a metadata layer that mirrors how the business thinks about margin and seasonality, and measurement that lets feed campaigns optimise toward purchases.
Shopify
Shopify Catalog covers organic shopping. We add the paid feed, the eligibility flags, and a Conversions API path that keeps the oppref click reference through checkout.
Headless and custom stacks
Feed generated from your PIM or warehouse on a schedule, validated against the spec, and pushed over SFTP with key-based auth.
Multi-product carousel
OpenAI is testing a carousel that shows several products from one advertiser in a single unit. Catalog hygiene decides whether that helps or embarrasses you.
Answered
straight.
What is a ChatGPT Ads product feed?
A structured catalog file — item IDs, titles, descriptions, prices, availability, images, and URLs — uploaded to ChatGPT Ads Manager over SFTP. Ads Manager generates product ads directly from that data: you choose the Product feed campaign type, filter which products an ad group can use, and the ad title and description are pulled from the feed.
How many products can a ChatGPT Ads feed contain?
Up to 2 million products, per OpenAI's documentation. Each ad account is limited to one feed connection, which is why segmentation has to be designed into the feed with ads_metadata rather than solved with multiple feeds.
Can I reuse my Google Shopping feed for ChatGPT Ads?
Largely, yes. The core fields overlap, but OpenAI's spec adds eligibility switches such as is_ads_eligible and is_eligible_search, and the free-form ads_metadata object. We map the Google feed, add the ChatGPT-specific fields, and validate against the spec before upload.
Do Shopify stores get into ChatGPT shopping automatically?
For the organic shopping surface, Shopify merchants are integrated through the Shopify Catalog. Paid product feed campaigns still require a feed uploaded through Ads Manager over SFTP and an approved advertiser account. The two are separate pipes with separate opt-ins.
Can product feed campaigns optimise for conversions?
Yes, in beta. Conversion optimisation for product feed campaigns bills per valid click, uses fixed or manual bidding in the initial release, and requires a positive conversion bid cap. It needs a working pixel or Conversions API and enough conversion volume per segment to learn from.
Why is the Products tab in Ads Manager missing most of my catalog?
Because it is an insights-backed reporting view, not a feed inventory. Products appear there only after an active campaign delivers and generates data. To confirm feed readiness, use the product count shown during ad group setup.
Which DTC brands are a fit for product feed campaigns?
Catalogs with clear product titles, current pricing and availability, and enough SKUs that hand-building ads is impractical — skincare, supplements, apparel, home, consumer electronics. A working paid acquisition program and a monthly media budget from roughly $10,000 make the channel worth instrumenting properly.