AI-assisted search has stopped being a future slide. It is now a paid media surface in Australia, and the first benchmark numbers are a wake-up call.
South Melbourne agency UNTMD says most brands running Google Ads have not reworked creative, targeting or measurement for ads that now appear inside ChatGPT answers, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.
The rollout arrived faster than the playbooks
ChatGPT ads went live in Australia on 17 April 2026, with self-serve buying opening on 22 May. That made Australia one of the first markets outside the US to access the channel. Google has also pushed ads into AI Overviews and AI Mode through its AI-powered campaign products.
The money is following. WPP Media’s mid-year forecast separates generative search into its own category for the first time and projects global AI-driven advertising revenue will climb from USD $5.1 billion in 2026 to $32 billion by 2028.
0.91% CTR is not a glitch
The early performance gap matters. ChatGPT ads are currently reporting a 0.91% click-through rate in Australia, against a 6.4% benchmark for Google Search in equivalent sectors.
That is roughly seven times lower. But UNTMD founder Maria Kathopoulis argues the number should not be read as proof that AI search ads don’t work. “The mistake would be to treat this like Google Ads with a different name,” she said. The query is conversational, the answer is synthesised, and the placement sits beside the answer rather than above a list of links.
Measurement is still catching up too. Conversion tracking only arrived in the Australian market in May 2026, so early tests need their own success metrics.
What marketers should do before Black Friday
The agency’s advice is blunt: test early with creative built for the AI answer, not repurposed search copy. Brands that do this before peak retail periods such as Black Friday could gain a material advantage. Brands that copy standard search creative across risk poor results—and the wrong conclusion that the channel doesn’t work.
- Build a separate creative set for AI placements: write to the answer, not the ten blue links.
- Measure AI search on its own terms: track CTR, assisted effect and post-click behavior, not just a Google Ads benchmark.
- Run a small, early test before Black Friday to learn while the surface is still cheap and noisy.
UNTMD draws its benchmarks from more than $147,000 of managed spend across 20 accounts, covering construction, solar, education, health and D2C retail.
For growth teams, the takeaway is simple: AI search is no longer a research project. It’s a live inventory placement with early-adopter pricing and early-adopter risk. The brands that treat it as a new channel—not a Google Ads clone—will have better creative, better measurement and a head start when the peak season opens.
Source: Medianet
