Perplexity, an AI startup, has added more than a dozen new media companies to its publisher program. The new partners include Blavity, Gear Patrol, The Independent, Lee Enterprises, Los Angeles Times, and MediaLab. Jessica Chan, Perplexity’s head of publisher partnerships, spoke about the five-month-old program and what it offers.
Chan explained that when Perplexity monetizes an answer page with advertising and a publisher is part of the program, they receive a cut of that revenue. Publishers are starting to see money come in from the program. Any publisher that’s part of the program and is cited in an answer, regardless of their position, receives a share of the revenue.
Chan couldn’t disclose specifics about the revenue share numbers or if the share is the same for all publishers. She mentioned that analytics wasn’t available when the program first launched, but she has worked with the product team to bring that feature to life. Some publishers are in the final stages of integrating Perplexity’s AI, such as surfacing chatbots to answer user questions.
Perplexity’s publisher relations and payouts
The related questions functionality is also available through the API. Chan, who is currently a one-woman team, has consistent conversations with product partners to understand feedback from publishers.
She wouldn’t be surprised if she hires more people to join her team sometime early next year. Publishers in the program are provided with access to a data dashboard, which shows when they’re referenced and when Perplexity is monetizing that, to ensure appropriate payouts. Chan clarified that publishers in the program are not prioritized by Perplexity’s search algorithm.
She emphasized the revenue share and relationship building as key differentiators for Perplexity in the competitive AI tech space. The lawsuit with News Corp comes up in conversations with publishers, but Perplexity has addressed it publicly. Chan said they continue to see a lot of excitement from publishers across the globe.
Regarding concerns about AI misrepresenting publishers’ content, Chan stated that the AI platforms will continue to learn, evolve, and improve. Perplexity has mechanisms in place to quickly address any issues if something is misrepresented or called out incorrectly, but fortunately, they haven’t had any such problems yet.
