ChatGPT and Reddit: Two Underused Advertising Playgrounds for B2B

When a B2B buyer looks for a new supplier today, where do they start? More and more often, with a conversation in Copilot or ChatGPT, followed by a detour to Reddit to see what their peers think.

To be visible at that moment, many companies have so far relied on GEO, which means optimizing their content to be cited in AI-generated answers. Until recently, it was actually the main way to show up in ChatGPT, which was closed to advertisers. Reddit, on the other hand, has been selling ads for years, but it long stayed under the radar of most B2B companies.

Things are changing: ChatGPT has been showing ads in Canada since April 2026, and more and more advertisers are turning to Reddit. GEO remains essential, but advertising adds a second way to be present when buyers compare their options. Being cited is earned. Being seen can now be bought, too.

In this article, we take a closer look at both channels: how they work, what they can (and can’t) do for a B2B company, and how to tell whether a test is worth it.

Yes, ChatGPT Now Shows Ads (in Canada, Too)

After a pilot project launched in the United States in February 2026, OpenAI has been showing ads to Canadian users on the Free and Go plans since April 16, 2026.

What You’re Buying (and What You’re Not)

The ad appears below ChatGPT’s answer, labelled as sponsored and visually separated from it. It usually includes an image, a headline, a short description and a link, a format that is bound to evolve since the platform is still in beta.

Advertisers have no control over the answer itself: they can’t rank it, steer it or change it. If ChatGPT doesn’t mention you, advertising won’t change that, but it can make you visible right below. That’s what makes the two levers complementary: GEO works on what AI says about you; advertising can give you a spot next to it.

As for privacy, advertisers have no access to conversations, chat history or users’ personal information. They only receive aggregated data, such as views and clicks.

You Target Situations, Not People

With LinkedIn Ads, you choose a job title or a company size. In ChatGPT, you provide context hints instead: descriptions of the conversations, topics or needs where your offer fits, such as “an SME comparing inventory management software.” These hints guide delivery without guaranteeing that your ad will appear in a specific conversation. For a team used to targeting audiences, it’s a whole new way of thinking about a campaign, one that starts with intent and the problem to solve.

Note: since the platform is still young, ad placements aren’t always relevant. An ad for SME accounting software could, for example, end up in a conversation about an individual’s personal tax return.

Who Sees the Ads

Only users on the Free and Go plans see ads. The Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Education plans don’t show any, which has a direct impact in B2B. So the real question isn’t whether your customers use ChatGPT, but how they use it and with what type of account. If your target audience mostly works in large organizations already equipped with paid plans on ChatGPT or other AI platforms, your advertising reach will necessarily be limited.

Reddit: The Giant Happy Hour Where Your Customers Tell Each Other the Truth

For those who have never set foot there, Reddit is a huge network of topic-based communities where people ask candid questions and get equally candid answers, whether about cybersecurity, accounting, engineering or logistics. Technical buyers compare suppliers there, without the marketing gloss.

And the platform is no longer a niche: in the second quarter of 2026, it had 130.3 million daily unique visitors and 514.6 million weekly unique visitors, and its number of active advertisers had jumped by more than 70% in one year.

A Reddit ad looks like a regular post (a headline with text, an image, a video or a carousel), with a label that clearly identifies it as an ad. It appears in members’ feeds or right in the middle of discussions, and members can upvote or downvote it, and even comment on it if the advertiser leaves comments open.

FusionAuth’s example: an ad clearly labelled as such, but one that could have been posted by a member of the community.

Reach People Where They Talk About Their Problem

Rather than targeting “IT director, company with 200 to 500 employees” as you would on LinkedIn Ads, you choose the communities where the problem you solve is being discussed. A cybersecurity firm, for example, can reach its audience directly in r/cybersecurity_news or r/asknetsec. The context then does much of the qualifying for you.

You still have to speak the right language. According to Reddit’s own best practices, its members have nothing against a clearly labelled ad, as long as it’s authentic. What doesn’t go over well is overly polished sales talk. Take our cybersecurity firm: an ad promising “innovative solutions to protect your business” is likely to be ignored, or even publicly criticized. An ad offering a guide to the most common configuration mistakes is more likely to get attention. Both are ads, but only the second one looks like something a member could have posted.

You also have to accept that you won’t fully control the conversation. Members can question, challenge or nuance what a brand says, which is no big deal for a company that knows its subject: answering a technical question honestly is often more convincing than a perfectly polished message. Ideally, advertising also builds on an organic presence, under a clearly identified account. But beware of disguised marketing: members can spot it from a mile away!

Also read: LinkedIn Is No Longer a Social Network. It’s Your B2B Credibility Infrastructure.

A Link with AI Worth Watching

Reddit also plays a role in the AI ecosystem, which brings us back to GEO.

The platform has signed agreements giving companies like Google and OpenAI access to its content. A post on Reddit won’t automatically make your company appear in ChatGPT, but the conversations that take place there can indirectly contribute to how a brand or category is represented in some generative environments.

Is It Worth It for Your Company?

According to our 2026 Study on B2B Marketing Practices in Quebec, 59% of respondents see the arrival of generative AI in search as an opportunity. But resources aren’t unlimited: only 26% of companies planned to increase their marketing budget. So the goal isn’t to add two more channels to an already long list, but to see whether one of them can really play a role in your buying journey.

Five questions for your own assessment

1. Do your buyers do a lot of research before contacting a supplier?
2. Is your offering often compared with your competitors’?
3. Are you targeting technical or specialized roles?
4. Do you also sell outside Quebec, in English?
5. Do you have the room to test a channel for a few months before judging it?

The more these criteria match your reality, the more relevant a test becomes. On the other hand, if your sales rely mainly on personal relationships or on a small number of accounts known in advance, other approaches, such as precision outbound, will probably be more effective.

What About Quebec?

The question about markets outside Quebec isn’t on the list by chance. In practice, most specialized B2B communities on Reddit are English-speaking, and French-speaking communities remain small. That’s good news for companies that also target English Canada or the United States, but less so for those focusing solely on French-speaking Quebec.

On the ChatGPT side, language is much less of an issue, since Quebecers use it in French every day. Language is one of the signals OpenAI uses to choose which ads to show, but in Canada, the available targeting remains mostly national: you think in terms of conversation context rather than regional micro-audiences.

What a First Test Looks Like (Without Losing Your Shirt)

A good test starts before you spend a single dollar. Ask ChatGPT the real questions a prospect might ask. Are you mentioned? Are your competitors? Then do the same exercise on Reddit, searching for your category and, above all, the problems you solve. The goal isn’t just to find out whether people are talking about you, but to understand how the market talks about the problem.

Also read: The Hidden Gold Mine in Your Sales Calls

If a test seems relevant, keep it simple by focusing on three things:

• A clear objective: one channel at a time, with a specific goal, whether it’s awareness in a niche, qualified traffic or lead generation.
• Measurement that goes beyond clicks: an increase in branded searches, the quality of visits or sales opportunities, which requires tracking connected all the way to your CRM.
• Patience: at Bang, we generally recommend running ads for several weeks, enough time to fine-tune the campaign and let results show up in a B2B sales cycle.

Since these channels are new and each has its own unwritten rules, this is the kind of project where working with a partner who already knows the platforms saves a lot of time.

Key Takeaways

While most Quebec B2B companies compete for the same spaces on LinkedIn and Google, ChatGPT and Reddit remain underused. Companies that test now will already have learnings in hand by the time these channels get more crowded.

GEO helps you get cited in the conversations where your buyers compare their options. Advertising lets you be visible there right now. For companies whose buyers do a lot of comparing, that target technical roles or that sell in English, a well-structured test can be worth it.

Wondering whether ChatGPT or Reddit belong in your media plan? At Bang Marketing, we can help you assess their potential, set up a first test and align it with your digital advertising strategy. Let’s talk.

FAQ: B2B Advertising on ChatGPT and Reddit

Can you manage a ChatGPT campaign yourself?
Yes. Since May 2026, OpenAI has offered a self-serve ads manager, still in beta, which Canadian advertisers can access. However, the setup remains in your hands (context hints, bidding, conversion tracking), and since the platform doesn’t yet have established performance benchmarks, it’s easy to test for a long time without knowing what to adjust.

Can every company advertise on ChatGPT?
Not automatically. Regulated industries, such as healthcare or financial services, are subject to stricter eligibility criteria, and political advertising isn’t allowed. Since these rules may change during the rollout, it’s best to check the current policies before building a campaign.

Can users opt out of ads on ChatGPT?
Partly. They can hide or report an ad and turn off ad personalization. Users on the Free plan can also switch to an ad-free version in exchange for lower usage limits. For advertisers, most of these options change how ads are selected rather than whether they appear: even without personalization, ads are still based on the topic of the conversation.