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# Bots made a third of clicks on some ChatGPT ads, Sydney firm finds
- URL: https://www.promptthemarket.com/chatgpt-ads-carry-3-6x-more-machine-traffic-than-google/
- Published: 2026-10-06T05:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T06:31:17.000Z
- Description: The Sydney verification firm audited 40,021 ChatGPT ad clicks for 47 advertisers: 4% were invalid, under Google's 10.8%, but server and proxy clicks ran 3.6 times higher and one account's rate hit 34%, almost all from machines.
- Author: Editor News
- Tags: Advertising, Australia, TrafficGuard, #author-xaviery-malinao

By **Xaviery Malinao** · 2026-10-06

TLDR

TrafficGuard audited 40,021 ChatGPT ad clicks across 47 enterprise advertisers and found a 4% blended invalid rate, well below Google's 10.8% on the same campaigns. Clicks from server, proxy and malicious infrastructure ran 3.6 times higher on ChatGPT than on Google, and impossible device configurations appeared nearly ten times as often.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

01ChatGPT's blended invalid-click rate of 4% sits 63% below the 10.8% rate on the same advertisers' Google campaigns.

02Machine-origin clicks from server, proxy and malicious IPs ran 3.6 times higher on ChatGPT than on Google Ads.

03Four hosting and VPN networks generated 742 flagged clicks, reaching 25 of 47 advertisers studied.

04One advertiser's invalid rate reached 34%, with nearly 90% of flagged clicks traced to server infrastructure.

05Australia's ChatGPT ad click-through rate sits at 0.67%, roughly one-third the rate recorded in Brazil.

## The numbers and what the gap means for spend

TrafficGuard, the ad-verification platform of Australian Securities Exchange-listed Adveritas Ltd (AV1), analysed 40,021 paid clicks on ChatGPT ads across 47 enterprise advertisers over three weeks from 24 August to 14 September 2026.[\[1\]](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com) The blended invalid-click rate came back at 4%, or 1,592 clicks. On the same advertisers' Google Ads campaigns, the invalid rate was 10.8%.

ChatGPT's blended rate is 63% lower than Google's, yet the type of fraud arriving on ChatGPT is harder to spot and almost entirely non-human in origin. By advertiser, the range ran from 0.1% to 34%.[\[1\]](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com)

TrafficGuard chief executive Mathew Ratty said the worst-performing account had nearly 90% of its flagged clicks coming from server infrastructure with no human user behind it. OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT on 9 February 2026, initially for users in the United States, then expanded to Australia from April 2026.[\[2\]](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt?ref=promptthemarket.com) TrafficGuard's three-week window ran roughly six months after the channel opened.

## Machine traffic composition

Clicks from datacenter and proxy infrastructure arrived 3.6 times more often on ChatGPT than on the same advertisers' Google campaigns, and clicks from impossible device configurations appeared nearly ten times as often.[\[1\]](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com) In raw terms: the hosting, proxy and malicious IP rate was 3.34% on ChatGPT against 0.92% on Google. Impossible device configurations ran at 0.86% against 0.09%.

Machine-origin fraud is harder to filter without dedicated verification tooling. A server cycling through impossible device signatures at scale generates clicks that a platform's own dashboard may count as real.

Ratty said the pattern was coordinated and persistent. "Even though ChatGPT advertising is in its early days, automated traffic has already found it," Ratty said. "It is coordinated, it is persistent and it is clicking every day. Most advertisers have no idea how much of their spend is going to it."[\[1\]](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com)

TrafficGuard chief product officer Miguel Lopes said OpenAI is not uniquely exposed to the problem. "OpenAI is not uniquely vulnerable, it is simply the newest place to sell clicks, and low-quality traffic follows the budget wherever it goes," Lopes said.[\[1\]](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com)

Four hosting and proxy networks accounted for roughly half of all invalid clicks recorded, reaching 25 of the 47 advertisers studied.[\[1\]](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com) Those four networks produced 742 flagged clicks in total.

__Invalid-click comparison: ChatGPT vs Google Ads (same 47 advertisers)Source: [TrafficGuard, 30 September 2026](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com)__
| Metric                              | ChatGPT Ads | Google Ads   |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------ |
| Blended invalid-click rate          | 4.0%        | 10.8%        |
| Hosting / proxy / malicious IP rate | 3.34%       | 0.92%        |
| Impossible device configurations    | 0.86%       | 0.09%        |
| Total clicks analysed               | 40,021      | 5,594,614    |
| Invalid-click range by advertiser   | 0.1% to 34% | Not reported |

## Australian advertisers on a six-month-old channel

Australia received ChatGPT ads from April 2026, so local buyers have operated on the channel for less time than the US cohort. Click-through rates (the share of ad impressions that result in a click) here are modest: Australian ChatGPT ad click-through sits at 0.67%, roughly one-third the rate recorded in Brazil.[\[3\]](https://www.promptthemarket.com/brazilians-click-chatgpt-ads-almost-3-times-as-often-as-australians/) Cautious local spending limits absolute dollar exposure to fraud, though it does not change the composition of the traffic that does arrive.

TrafficGuard is the flagship software-as-a-service product of Adveritas Ltd (ASX: AV1), as disclosed in the company's February 2026 ASX filing.[\[4\]](https://announcements.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20260227/pdf/06wvdgwvxhsps2.pdf?ref=promptthemarket.com) The report was dated 30 September 2026\. OpenAI has not commented publicly on whether clicks flagged by TrafficGuard's analysis were charged to advertisers, and no external audit has verified TrafficGuard's methodology.

The sample of 40,021 ChatGPT clicks compares with 5,594,614 Google Ads clicks from the same advertiser set. For media buyers running pay-per-click campaigns across both platforms: the bigger bill for wasted spend is still on Google, but the fraud arriving on ChatGPT is the kind that standard platform reporting is least equipped to catch, and TrafficGuard's numbers argue for third-party verification before ChatGPT budgets are scaled.

This article contains analysis and commentary on market conditions. It does not constitute financial, investment, or professional advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified adviser before making financial decisions.

SOURCES & CITATIONS

1. [TrafficGuard: Up to One in Three Clicks on Some ChatGPT Ads Are Invalid (MENAFN)](https://menafn.com/1111737753/Up-to-One-in-Three-Clicks-on-Some-ChatGPT-Ads-Are-Invalid-First-Independent-Analysis-Finds?ref=promptthemarket.com)
2. [Ads in ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Centre](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001047-ads-in-chatgpt?ref=promptthemarket.com)
3. [Brazilians click ChatGPT ads almost three times as often as Australians, Prompt the Market](https://www.promptthemarket.com/brazilians-click-chatgpt-ads-almost-3-times-as-often-as-australians/)
4. [Adveritas Ltd (AV1) ASX disclosure, February 2026](https://announcements.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20260227/pdf/06wvdgwvxhsps2.pdf?ref=promptthemarket.com)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is ChatGPT ad fraud worse than Google Ads fraud?

By volume, no. TrafficGuard found a 4% blended invalid-click rate on ChatGPT against 10.8% on Google for the same 47 advertisers. By type, the ChatGPT fraud is more machine-intensive: server, proxy and malicious IP clicks ran 3.6 times higher than on Google, and impossible device configurations appeared nearly ten times as often.

When did ChatGPT ads launch in Australia?

OpenAI began testing ads in ChatGPT on 9 February 2026 for US users, then expanded to Australia from April 2026\. TrafficGuard's analysis ran from 24 August to 14 September 2026, roughly six months after the channel opened.

Who ran this analysis and are the figures independently verified?

TrafficGuard, the ad-verification platform of ASX-listed Adveritas Ltd (AV1), ran the analysis across 47 enterprise advertisers. The report was published 30 September 2026\. No external audit has verified the methodology, and OpenAI has not commented on whether flagged clicks were charged to advertisers.

[Xaviery Malinao](https://www.promptthemarket.com/xaviery-malinao/)

Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.