Visible ads vs served ads

Ad insights counts sponsored placements that appear inside AI answers. For ChatGPT, being in the ad payload is not the same as appearing on screen. We default the page to visible cards so the numbers match what a person actually saw.

What ChatGPT serves

ChatGPT's ads auction can return more than one advertiser for a prompt. That list is the serve decision: ads the model considered, including ones the interface never drew.

What a person sees

The chat UI usually draws at most one Sponsored card under the answer. Sometimes it draws none, even though ads were served. Two visible cards is rare.

The checkbox on Ad insights

Off (default): KPIs, advertisers, creatives, and the chart include only visible ads.

On ("Include ads not shown"): the same views also include ChatGPT ads that were served but never drawn. Use this when you want auction reach, not on-screen exposure.

Google AI Mode and AI Overview

Those engines do not expose a served-vs-shown split. Ads we store for them are treated as visible, so the checkbox does not change Google numbers.