Perplexity AI, the AI-powered search engine that has taken the tech world by storm, is gearing up to start displaying advertisements alongside its innovative search results. The company, which has been making headlines for its rapid growth and recent plagiarism allegations, is now looking to monetize its platform and share the wealth with publishers.
Perplexity AI has surpassed 2 million downloads and boasts an impressive 230 million monthly active users. The app's popularity has skyrocketed, with U.S. search queries increasing eightfold over the last year. This surge in usage has also brought increased scrutiny, with concerns raised about how Perplexity sources and presents content from other platforms.
In June, Forbes and Wired reported finding plagiarized versions of their articles on Perplexity's Pages feature, with little to no attribution. The company has since revised its Pages tool and made improvements to better cite sources in the content it generates.
To address these issues and build bridges with publishers, Perplexity AI recently launched a revenue-sharing program. The Publishers Program allows media outlets to earn a portion of the ad revenue generated when their articles are referenced in Perplexity's search results. Initial participants include notable names like Time, Entrepreneur, Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel, and WordPress.
Perplexity AI's Revenue-Sharing Initiative
Perplexity AI introduced a revenue-sharing program for publishers last month. Under this initiative, whenever a user's query generates advertising revenue by referencing an article, Perplexity will share a portion of that revenue with the respective publisher
Perplexity's advertising strategy will utilize a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model, with rates expected to exceed $50. This is a significant jump from typical desktop display ad CPMs of around $2.50 and mobile video ads at approximately $11.10.
The company's pitch deck reveals that Perplexity's user base is highly educated, with over 80% holding an undergraduate degree. 30% occupy senior leadership roles, and 65% work in high-income white-collar professions such as medicine, law, and software development. These demographics make Perplexity an attractive platform for advertisers targeting a professional audience.
Perplexity's move into advertising comes at a time when AI-assisted search is being seen as a potential threat to traditional search engines like Google. OpenAI's SearchGPT, launched last month, and Google's introduction of “AI Overviews” in May, which provide concise summaries at the top of search results, are signs of the growing importance of AI in the search landscape.
Perplexity AI will be interesting to see how its advertising efforts impact its user experience and relationship with publishers. AI search revolution is just getting started, and Perplexity AI is positioning itself to be a key player in this exciting new era of information discovery.
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