In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss OpenAI targeting a permanent place in agency ad budgets, Xbox launching a film and TV division, and advertising spend dropping 3.4% in August.

OpenAI is looking to turn ChatGPT advertising from an experiment into a fixture of how agencies plan their media. The company has posted a job for an agency partner, a role tasked with making ChatGPT ads a standing line item in holding companies’ media plans. The hire would sit alongside client partners, who sell directly to brands, and account managers, who handle advertisers after the sale. 

The listing points to a gap OpenAI appears to have identified: winning an advertiser’s first buy is one thing, but getting onto agency plans year after year is another. 

On 8th October, Microsoft announced a new division called XP, a play on “experience points,” to oversee film, television, merchandise, live events and brand partnerships tied to its game franchises. It is organised into four arms: Xbox Pictures for adaptations, Xbox Products for licensing, Xbox Partnerships for sponsors and creators, and Xbox Places for broadcasts, events and theme parks. Kayleen Walters, a former Lucasfilm executive who most recently ran Minecraft studio Mojang, will serve as president and report to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. 

Xbox says the division mostly pulls together teams already doing this work. Chief strategy officer Matthew Ball said games will remain at the centre of every franchise, with XP extending their reach rather than replacing them.

Australia’s advertising market stumbled in August, though the longer-term picture looks steadier. Ad spend booked through media agencies fell 3.4% year on year, according to Guideline SMI. For the first eight months of the year, total spend is still up 0.7% on the same period in 2025, with six of those eight months in positive territory. The weakness came largely from digital, which is tracking 7.1% behind last August, although late bookings have yet to be reported. 

Sean Wright, Guideline SMI’s chief insights and analytics officer, said the result looks like a shorter digital market rather than a broader downturn.

Not every channel struggled. Pure play video grew 13.8%, and outdoor jumped 10.7%, helping keep traditional media broadly stable. Broadcast television slipped 5.2%, radio fell 1.7% and cinema dropped 27.6%. Among categories, government advertising surged 44.4%, while wealth management rose 28.6% as Australians reconsidered their investments after tax reform legislation passed in June.