OpenAI internal forecast: Plus subscribers will plummet 80% this year, advertising will become the largest revenue source by 2030

CoinWorld News reports that internal forecasts at OpenAI show a dramatic shift in the company’s consumer subscription structure this year:
The ad-supported ChatGPT Go subscribers at $8/month are expected to surge from about 3.1 million at the beginning of the year to 112 million, a 36-fold increase, while the $20/month ChatGPT Plus subscribers will plummet from approximately 45 million to about 9 million, an 80% decrease.
Go’s share among subscription users will rise from 7% last year to 92% by the end of the year, while Plus will drop from 92% to 7%.
Total consumer subscriptions are expected to double to 122 million, reaching 306 million by 2030.
The influx of users at the low-price tier will directly result in ARPU being cut in half: the average monthly fee per subscriber will drop from about $23 last year to less than $12 next year.
OpenAI’s countermeasure is to boost revenue through advertising, which is projected to contribute about $2.4 billion this year, quadrupling to nearly $11 billion next year, and reaching about $102 billion by 2030, becoming the company’s largest revenue source, accounting for approximately 36% of total revenue.
Total revenue is still expected to double this year to $30 billion, and reach $284 billion by 2030.