OpenAI is projected to lose $14 billion this year. It's spending $1 million per day running Sora for just 500,000 users. And its first foray into advertising has already been called a flop by one of its biggest early adopters.

So, is OpenAI actually running out of cash?

And what does all of this mean for the future of AI advertising, ChatGPT's market dominance, and your marketing strategy?

In this episode, Charlie Marchant (CEO of Exposure Ninja) is joined by Luke Nicholson (COO of Exposure Ninja, making his first-ever podcast appearance) to cut through the noise. They reveal:

• Why OpenAI has shuttered Sora — and what a $1M-per-day burn rate for 500,000 users tells us about how the company prioritises products
• The two Meta veterans OpenAI just hired to build its ad platform, and what their backgrounds signal about the company's real priorities ahead of its Q4 2026 IPO
• Why Walmart's VP publicly called ChatGPT ads a "flop" — and the fundamental tension between user experience and advertiser ROI that OpenAI still hasn't resolved
• How Shopify's new Agentic Storefronts work, why OpenAI abandoned its own instant checkout, and why that 4% transaction fee could trigger serious retailer backlash
• The real ChatGPT market share picture — including live data from Exposure Ninja's client portfolio showing which AI platforms are driving the most traffic and the highest-converting visits
• Where Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot are genuinely threatening ChatGPT — and where they're not

As Luke explains in the episode:

"OpenAI isn't running out of cash, but it's possibly running out of time in which to convince the rest of the world that all of the investment in it is worthwhile."

If you want to understand which AI platforms your customers are actually using — and what OpenAI's financial pressures mean for the future of AI advertising — this episode gives you the clearest picture available right now.

Follow Charlie Marchant on LinkedIn for the latest in AI Search Optimisation:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliemarchant/

Request a free marketing review:

https://exposureninja.com/review

Try Semrush for FREE:

https://thankyouninjas.com

Get the show notes:

https://exposureninja.com/podcast/dojo-70/

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