Perplexity, the AI-powered search startup, is rolling out a new “Publishers’ Program” to share ad revenue with media partners, amid recent plagiarism controversies.
This move signals a shift in how AI companies are approaching content partnerships, potentially setting a new standard for compensating publishers whose work is used to train and power AI systems.
Details:
- Publishers will receive a “double-digit percentage” of ad revenue when their content is featured in search results.
- Initial partners include Time, Der Spiegel and Fortune.
- The program includes free access to Perplexity’s Enterprise Pro tier and developer tools.
Why we care. As Perplexity grows, it could become a significant new channel for digital advertising, offering alternatives to dominant players like Google. Their AI-powered search could evolve into new ad formats or targeting capabilities that aren’t possible with traditional search advertising.
The big picture. AI-powered search is more expensive than traditional search, pushing companies like Perplexity to quickly develop sustainable business models.
Between the lines. This initiative comes after recent accusations of plagiarism against Perplexity, including incidents involving Forbes and Wired.
However, unlike content licensing deals from companies like OpenAI and Google, Perplexity claims it doesn’t need to license content as it’s not training its language model on publishers’ writing.
What they’re saying:
- “It’s a much better revenue split than Google, which is zero,” says Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg.
- Perplexity’s CBO Dmitry Shevelenko acknowledges the program may impact profit margins but sees it as necessary for long-term success.
- Perplexity intends for advertising to be its main source of revenue, Shevelenko said, adding his goal is to break the search engine model, which historically has not provided media partners with a revenue share model
What to watch. How this program compares to similar initiatives from competitors like OpenAI and whether it will satisfy publishers’ concerns about AI using copyrighted content.
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About the author
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.
In 2008, Anu’s career started with
delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event – PPC Live, host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, and brand evangelist at ClickTech.
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.
