As OpenAI expands its advertising ambitions, AppsFlyer has become a measurement partner for ChatGPT Ads, allowing advertisers to connect campaigns with app installs, app opens, in-app purchases and subscriptions. For marketers, the question is whether better measurement can turn AI advertising from an experiment into a serious media channel.
The next battle for advertising budgets may not happen on another social feed.
It could happen inside a conversation.
Today, AppsFlyer announced its integration with ChatGPT Ads, enabling marketers to measure campaigns running inside ChatGPT directly within the AppsFlyer platform. Grubhub and more than a dozen other advertisers are already using the integration, bringing mobile app measurement to campaigns in ChatGPT.
For brands, the opportunity is clear: understand what happens after a consumer engages with an AI-powered ad. For years, marketers have measured performance across platforms such as Meta, Google and TikTok. The challenge for emerging AI platforms has been proving that attention translates into business results.
According to Alexia Nakad, GM EMEA West at AppsFlyer, measurement is the factor that could determine whether ChatGPT becomes a serious advertising platform. “The first thing that ties marketing budget moving is consumer behavior, and with the shift of consumer behavior, the marketing budgets are going and shifting towards that,” she tells Communicate.
From search to AI-powered discovery
The rise of ChatGPT reflects a wider change in how consumers discover information. ChatGPT now has more than 900 million weekly active users, with people increasingly using AI tools to explore ideas, compare options and make decisions.
Nakad believes the shift is already visible in everyday behaviour. “I always say this to people, the easiest way to learn is to put yourself as a consumer,” she says, explaining how she recently used ChatGPT to find a dog-friendly seaside destination in the UK.
“What’s shifting in my consumer behavior is where I used to probably go, which was maybe like search on Google and go through all these pages and look at this one by one. This deep search and power behind ChatGPT and OpenAI allows me to effectively get those responses a lot quicker.”
For marketers, this creates a new opportunity to reach consumers closer to the point of intent. But intent alone does not unlock budgets. Measurement does.
The missing piece: proving ROI
AppsFlyer’s integration brings a measurement layer to ChatGPT Ads, allowing advertisers to view, attribute and optimise performance alongside their other marketing channels.
For Nakad, the value is giving marketers the confidence to understand whether investment is working. “What I need to be able to do as a marketer, under the economic pressures of today, I need to show the outcomes. I need to show the measurement,” she says.
She believes independent measurement will be critical as AI platforms compete for media spend. “I do believe that this announcement and where OpenAI is working towards with its advertising program and technology and features is to have the measurement suite in a place that allows them to be seriously considered alongside Meta, TikTok, Google, and anywhere else that’s quite substantial on the media plan and investment.”
The integration also provides the type of third-party measurement signals that help platforms optimise campaigns while giving advertisers a clearer view of performance.
What should CMOs measure?
For marketers evaluating AI advertising, the question is not simply whether ChatGPT can drive conversions. It is identifying the right business outcome.
Nakad says brands should avoid focusing only on the final purchase. “I think people get really trapped in this like lower funnel very quickly. It’s like, what is the cost of the conversion?”
Instead, marketers need to define what success looks like, whether that is app acquisition, loyalty sign-ups, in-store activity or sales. “What this gives flexibility for a marketer to do is pinpoint the right conversion point, whether it’s in-store, whether it’s a product, whether it’s a sign-up, for example, and actually work to determine, did that marketing dollar work to that specific purpose?”
Why this matters for the Middle East
The shift has particular relevance for the Middle East, where mobile adoption and digital consumption continue to accelerate.
Nakad believes the region’s mobile-first behaviour creates strong foundations for AI-driven advertising.
“MENA is a very mobile-first region in a lot of ways. There’s a lot of usage happening across the mobile space.”
However, she says the next stage will be about proving business impact.
“When we think about moving into the next stage of measurement and being able to understand the impact of that, that’s where integrations coming about will start to help us determine the answers to the question of: did the marketing spend actually justify the return on investment?”
From keywords to consumer intent
The biggest change AI platforms introduce is not just another advertising placement. It is a different relationship with consumer intent.
Traditional digital advertising has often relied on keywords, targeting and audience signals. AI conversations reveal what consumers are actively trying to solve.
“If I give that example of Grubhub where they say, look, I’m very hungry, I want you to help me be able to find something to eat, it’s now a perfect placement for someone like a Grubhub, an Uber, a Careem in the UAE, to give you a more regional-specific example,” says Nakad. “It’s an absolute opportunity for these brands now to actually have that ability to understand, to be from the forefront of the intent of the consumer.”
However, she adds that brands cannot lose sight of long-term brand building. “We cannot forget the brand as a marketer. It’s a very critical piece.”
The next media channel?
The speed of AI advertising development has surprised even industry observers. Earlier this year, Nakad expected advertising capabilities from AI platforms to take much longer to mature.
For agencies and CMOs, the next question is whether AI platforms move from experimentation into the core media plan. “The fact that you can now measure different KPIs and impact on these channels means that it will probably move from an experimental line on a media plan to something that’s been seriously considered within the overarching media plan sitting alongside Meta, TikTok, Google.”
The next battle for media budgets may not be fought on another feed. It may happen inside the answers consumers receive. And the brands that win will be the ones that can prove those answers drive action.
