Agencies & Marketing — AI Platforms Open New Ad Surfaces and Force Brand Visibility Rethink as OpenAI Launches CPC Ads and Microsoft Debuts Agentic Web Tools

Agencies & Marketing · 2026-04-22

TODAY'S SIGNAL — The advertising ecosystem is undergoing a structural replatforming. OpenAI activating cost-per-click ads inside ChatGPT and Microsoft launching AI Max for the "agentic web" represent the opening of entirely new demand-capture surfaces that agencies must now plan for — not experimentally, but operationally. Simultaneously, IBM's call for a formal Generative Engine Optimization…