Perplexity courts publishers with ad revenue share experiment |
In a nutshell:
The full story:
Perplexity, an AI search company, is looking to make friends with publishers through a partnership programme launched last summer. It has since caught the attention of major media outlets like TIME, Fortune and Der Spiegel but also niche outlets like the US black creators community Blavity.
Unlike other generative AI giants, such as OpenAI or Gemini, Perplexity does not train any models. It is a search engine that answers users' questions by summarising content from websites rather than just spitting out a bunch of links. It is an important distinction because it changes how publishers' content is used.
The pitch is pretty straightforward: when people use Perplexity to ask questions, the AI often relies on content from news organisations and other publishers to provide answers. Now, Perplexity looks at giving something back through a revenue-sharing scheme.
When advertisers pay to sponsor questions on Perplexity's platform, publishers whose content is cited in the answers will get a slice of the pie. The company is also offering some tech perks - publishers can use Perplexity's AI technology on their own websites, plus their staff get free access to Perplexity's premium service for a year.
"We structured this program to ensure we have a scalable and sustainable way to align incentives for all parties," says........