ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google—they're all racing. First movers win big.

Author

Jeff Sauer
February 07, 2026

This is Google Ads in 2002. Facebook Ads in 2012. Don't miss it again.

There’s a once-in-a-decade moment about to happen in digital marketing.

And you don't want to miss this one.

Right now, the biggest advertising platforms in the world are racing to figure out something that none of them have cracked yet.

ChatGPT just turned on ads for 800 million users.

Google is scrambling to protect their search revenue.

Perplexity is building a commerce engine.

Companies big and small are going to need help running ads on these platforms.

And the agencies who figure this out first? They're going to print money for the next 5 years.

Here's what makes this so rare: the playbook doesn't exist yet.

I've only seen this kind of shift happen a handful of times. Google AdWords in 2002. Facebook Ads in 2012. And now, AI ads in 2026.

I was there for the Google Ads wave. Being a first mover on that platform changed my entire career—built an agency, made the Inc. 5000 list five times, had an 8-figure exit.

And I'm telling you: AI ads management is the opportunity I'm most excited about since Google Ads launched.

Not because the technology is cool.

Because the window is open right now.

In this breakdown, I walk you through why this is a completely new category, the two service stacks you can build starting today, and what the early adopters are actually doing right now.

OpenAI is projecting $25 billion in ad revenue by 2030.

That would make ChatGPT the third largest ad platform in the world.

But here's the thing most people are missing: we're moving from search engines to answer engines. The inventory is shrinking, but the value of each placement is exploding.

That gap—between "the platforms are live" and "somebody actually knows what they're doing"—that's where fortunes get made.

The ground floor is now.

To Your AI-First Success,
Jeff Sauer

P.S. AI ads management was the number one service I predicted for growth in our 99 Services Report. Comment "SERVICES" on the video and I'll send you the full list.

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