StackAdapt opened its 2026 Innovation Forum on September 29, putting OpenAI’s monetization lead on stage and positioning Ivy Studio at the center of its AI story. The virtual event runs for North America today, for EMEA and Asia-Pacific on September 30, and moves to on-demand viewing from October 1.
The agenda, minus the product drop
OpenAI’s Benji Shomair, vice president of monetization, is scheduled to talk about ChatGPT advertising, working practices for the new channel and what comes next for marketers. StackAdapt executives open with the company’s product view, and AI educator Harper Carroll closes with a session on teams and habits.
This is not a launch moment. The announcement names no new product, pricing, availability date or session times. The draw is the relationship on display: a demand-side platform hosting the supplier of one of its newest ad channels.
Three ways StackAdapt and OpenAI connect
The tie is broader than a keynote. StackAdapt joined the ChatGPT advertising pilot as one of five technology partners on May 5, 2026, alongside Criteo, Kargo, Adobe and Pacvue. Ivy Studio also uses OpenAI language models, and now a senior OpenAI commercial executive is addressing StackAdapt’s own audience.
ChatGPT ads have scaled fast. The pilot launched February 9, 2026 at a $60 CPM with a $200,000 minimum commitment. By August 31, Digiday reported a $1 billion annualized run rate in under 200 days. Self-serve now spans 63 countries, with routes through Adform, HubSpot and Shopify.
The AI Delegation Gap
StackAdapt’s own research is the most useful frame. Its AI Delegation Gap report, based on a survey of 500 marketing and advertising professionals, found:
- 62% cited reduced manual optimization time
- 56% cited faster campaign setup
- 27% reported improved return on ad spend
- 22% saw lower cost per click
Acceptance drops as AI gets more authority. While 90% of respondents accept AI recommending actions, only 50% accept autonomous AI after proven performance, and just 6% act on in-platform recommendations almost always.
Regional differences matter because the forum is split by region. In StackAdapt’s data, 47% of North American respondents act on platform recommendations often or almost always, compared with 59% in EMEA and 60% in APAC.
Why the event matters for buyers
Marketing teams now have multiple ways into ChatGPT inventory, so the relevant question is what a platform partner adds once self-serve is open in 63 markets. StackAdapt’s May announcement pointed to strategic guidance and creative optimization, but today’s release does not confirm whether partner access covers the Asian markets OpenAI added in late September.
The same issue applies to Ivy Studio. StackAdapt calls it the center of its connected AI suite, yet the phrase is not defined, no other components are named, and it is unclear whether the creative workflows mentioned at the forum are new since July.
Measurement is a live question too. StackAdapt’s Economic Impact Report uses Affinity Solutions card data covering more than 150 million cards and $4 trillion in spend, but cash transactions and cards outside the panel do not appear. That is a reminder that “business value” still depends on what a measurement source can see.
CMO Ryan Nelsen framed the event as a look forward. “AI is changing much more than how quickly marketers can complete individual tasks. It is changing how advertising itself operates,” he said in the announcement.
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When the sessions go on demand October 1, the test is whether vendors put numbers against business value. StackAdapt’s own survey shows a 35-point distance between time saved and ROAS improvement. Buyers should push for campaign and outcome data, not workflow speed.
Source: PPC Land
