Custom audiences feature rolls out to ChatGPT ads beta, but high minimum thresholds may limit access
TLDR
Jon Loomer reports that some ChatGPT ads beta participants can now upload custom audiences based on email and phone data, though a reported 100,000-identifier minimum may restrict access to most advertisers.
OpenAI has rolled out custom audience creation to select ChatGPT ads beta advertisers, allowing targeting and exclusion based on uploaded email addresses and phone numbers—raw, hashed (SHA-256), or both. Jon Loomer notes the feature mirrors Facebook's custom-audience capability from over a decade ago and suggests it signals OpenAI's intent to expand targeting control beyond location and algorithmic signals. However, a tooltip in the beta UI indicates audiences must reach at least 100,000 identifiers to be usable, a threshold Loomer views as potentially prohibitive given the low expected match rate between uploaded data and ChatGPT user accounts—making the feature accessible to only the largest advertisers unless OpenAI relaxes the requirement. Documentation remains sparse, leaving details about file format, hashing requirements, and whether the minimum applies before or after matching unclear.