ChatGPT Becomes A Distribution Channel: 1.2 Billion Weekly Users, An OpenAI Marketplace And "Sign In With ChatGPT"

1.2 billion - Weekly ChatGPT users, announced at DevDay 2026  ·  32 partners - Launch partners in the OpenAI Marketplace, including Figma, Salesforce, Harvey and CrowdStrike  ·  Committed spend - Enterprise customers can apply committed OpenAI spend to partner software in the Marketplace  ·  16 partners - Sign in with ChatGPT is live across 16 products, including Notion, Vercel and Devin

The history of digital marketing is a history of new places where customers find and buy things. Search engines made discovery a matter of ranking. App stores made distribution a matter of being listed, rated and installed. Social platforms made it a matter of being shared. Each time, the businesses that understood the new channel early gained an advantage that lasted years. At DevDay 2026 OpenAI made an explicit bid for ChatGPT to be the next such place. It announced that ChatGPT now reaches 1.2 billion weekly users - an audience on the scale of the largest platforms on earth - and launched two things designed to turn that audience into a channel through which software is discovered, adopted and paid for. As an AI Agency London that helps businesses get found, we think UK software firms and brands should take this seriously now, while it is early, and this analysis explains what has launched and how to respond.

Why This Is A Go-To-Market Question

The significance of these launches lies in who controls the moment of decision. When a business user asks ChatGPT for help with a task and ChatGPT can point them to a partner product that is already approved, already paid for through committed spend and accessible with the identity they are already signed in with, the friction of adopting that product all but disappears. Being inside that ecosystem becomes a distribution advantage, and being outside it becomes a disadvantage that grows as usage grows. For software companies this is the app-store moment again: the platform with the users begins to shape which products those users adopt. Sign in with ChatGPT adds a second layer. Social login reshaped sign-up flows a decade ago because it removed the effort of creating an account. An identity backed by an AI assistant the user already pays for, and which can carry usage allowances, is a still stronger pull. For brands that are not software vendors, the lesson is the same as for AI search more broadly: the AI assistant is becoming a gateway between customers and products, and visibility there matters.

• Frictionless adoption - approved, already-funded, signed-in products are the path of least resistance for business users.
• Committed spend as a magnet - budget already committed to OpenAI flows towards Marketplace partners.
• Identity as distribution - Sign in with ChatGPT removes sign-up friction and can carry usage allowances.
• The app-store pattern again - the platform with the users shapes which products they adopt.
• Early movers gain most - channel advantages compound while competition inside the channel is thin.

How UK Software Firms And Brands Should Respond

The response depends on what you sell, but every business can act now. If you sell software to businesses, assess whether the Marketplace is a channel your customers will use - particularly if they are large organisations with committed AI spend - and consider registering interest, because early partners in a platform marketplace benefit from attention and positioning that later entrants do not. Make sure your product works well when an AI assistant is in the loop: clear capabilities, a solid API, and ideally an MCP server so assistants can act within your product, because an assistant-friendly product is more likely to be recommended and adopted through assistants. Evaluate Sign in with ChatGPT as an option for reducing sign-up friction, weighing the convenience for users against the dependency it creates on one platform's identity. If you are a brand rather than a software vendor, the priority is visibility in AI answers: ensure ChatGPT and other assistants can find, understand and accurately describe what you offer. And for every business, avoid single-platform dependency: the AI assistant market includes several major players, and channels should be built so you are present across them rather than tied to one.

The Bottom Line

With 1.2 billion weekly users, an OpenAI Marketplace whose 32 launch partners include Figma, Salesforce, Harvey and CrowdStrike and where enterprises can spend committed OpenAI budget on partner software, and Sign in with ChatGPT live across 16 products, ChatGPT is moving from a place people ask questions to a place where software is found, adopted and paid for. For UK software firms that is an app-store moment: being inside the ecosystem lowers adoption friction dramatically, and early positioning compounds. For brands, it reinforces that AI assistants are becoming the gateway between customers and products. The right response is to engage early - assess the Marketplace, make products assistant-friendly, consider ChatGPT identity, secure visibility in AI answers - while owning customer relationships and avoiding dependence on any single platform. Helping UK businesses win in the AI assistant era is exactly what we do.

References & Further Reading

• Emergent - OpenAI DevDay 2026: every announcement (Marketplace partners and committed spend, Sign in with ChatGPT, 1.2 billion weekly users): https://emergent.sh/news/openai-devday-2026
• Latent Space - AINews: OpenAI DevDay 2026 - Spaces, Marketplace and 1.2 billion ChatGPT WAU: https://www.latent.space/p/ainews-openai-devday-2026-dots-61
• The Neuron - OpenAI DevDay 2026: Dots and ChatGPT's agent OS: https://www.theneurondaily.com/p/openai-launched-dots-20-more-tools
• MarketingProfs - AI Update, October 2, 2026: https://www.marketingprofs.com/opinions/2026/56056/ai-update-october-02-2026-ai-news-and-views-from-the-past-week
• Pulse 2.0 - OpenAI unveils Dots, GPT-6.1 Sol and new enterprise AI tools: https://pulse2.com/openai-unveils-dots-gpt-6-1-sol-500-pro-tier-and-new-enterprise-ai-tools/