OpenAI reportedly expects its ad-supported tier and cheaper ChatGPT Go plan to drive user growth and encourage some subscribers to downgrade from Plus.
The Sam Altman-led company has projected a 36x increase in the ChatGPT Go subscribers to 112 million this year. At the same time, the ChatGPT Plus users are expected to drop sharply by 80% to around 9 million, while the premium Pro plan will roughly double in users but remain under 1% of the total user base, reported The Information on Tuesday.
With a much larger user base, the company believes advertising revenue from its Go plan that costs $8 per month in the U.S. and about $5 monthly in countries such as India, could eventually exceed earnings from its $20 per month ChatGPT Plus subscriptions.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.
Revenue, User Base Slowdown?
The ChatGPT Go plan was first launched in India in August and later expanded to a few more nations. In January, OpenAI announced a global rollout of the plan covering 170 countries.
OpenAI’s shift towards ad-supported revenue comes after the company began testing advertising inside ChatGPT for U.S. users on its Free and Go plans in February. The company stated that this move would not influence responses or compromise user privacy.
OpenAI has reportedly forecast a sharp surge in advertising revenue, aiming for about $2.5 billion this year and an ambitious $100 billion by 2030. However, on Monday, it was reported that the company’s key revenue and user growth had faltered, raising questions about its potential IPO and the ability to secure more computing power. The company is now prioritizing cost control and discipline as it faces high subscriber churn.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by a Benzinga editor.
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