Perplexity AI to launch ads on search platform by fourth quarter

]

Aug 22 (Reuters) -Nvidia NVDA.O and Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI said on Thursday that it plans to introduce advertising on its artificial intelligence-powered search platform by the fourth quarter.

Last month, the AI startup launched a program for publishers with an initial batch of partners, including TIME, Der Spiegel, and Fortune, in which it plans to share revenue from interactions where a publisher’s content is referenced.

Since ChatGPT first launched in November 2022, major search engines have been trying to integrate AI into web search, and analysts have viewed AI-assisted search as a threat to Google’s dominant position in the industry ever since the AI boom started.

Microsoft MSFT.O has adopted OpenAI technology for its Bing search engine through its early investment, while Google rolled out AI-powered summaries for the wider public at its developer conference in May.

In April, Perplexity AI raised$62.7 million from existing investors such as Nvidia, and new investors including Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, and Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of Altimeter Capital.

The fundraising round valued the company at more than $1 billion, doubling its valuation from three months earlier.

Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid

]

Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence startup that has been embroiled in controversy due to accusations of plagiarizing content from media outlets, plans to start running ads on its search app in the fourth quarter, CNBC has learned.

The company, which specializes in AI-assisted search, is circulating a pitch deck, promoting the app’s reach and increasing usage. The company says its app has been downloaded more than two million times and that it answers more than 230 million queries a month, with U.S. queries increasing eightfold in the past year, according to the presentation, which was viewed by CNBC.

Perplexity raised new funding in April that valued the company at more than $1 billion, doubling its valuation from three months earlier. But the app’s increasing popularity has highlighted concerns surrounding the ways the company surfaces content from other sources.

Forbes reported in June that it found a plagiarized version of one of its stories on Perplexity with no reference to the media outlet other than a small “F” logo at the bottom of the page. Weeks later, Wired said it also found evidence of Perplexity plagiarizing Wired stories, and reported that an IP address “almost certainly linked to Perplexity and not listed in its public IP range” visited its parent company’s websites more than 800 times in a three-month span.

The company told CNBC that, following the allegations, it made changes to how Perplexity’s Pages feature cited sources and also made updates so that its responses are better at citing outlets directly within the generated copy.

Last month, Perplexity debuted a revenue-sharing model, giving publishers an opportunity to make money through the company’s search engine. Any time a user asks a question and Perplexity generates ad revenue from citing an article in its answer, Perplexity will share a percentage of that revenue with the publisher.

Media outlets and content platforms including Fortune, Time, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel and WordPress were among the first to join the company’s “Publishers Program.” Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, told CNBC in a July interview that if three articles from one publisher were used in one answer, the partner would receive “triple the revenue share.” He said the company had been working on the feature since January and that its goal is to have 30 publishers enrolled by the end of the year.

With advertising, Perplexity will follow a model called CPM, or cost per thousand impressions, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the details are not public. CPM prices will be more than $50, the source said. Search marketing firm Semrush wrote in a blog post last year that display ads on desktop typically have CPMs of around $2.50, while mobile videos have rates of about $11.10.

Perplexity said in its pitch deck that its key advertising categories initially would include topics such as technology, health and pharmaceuticals, arts and entertainment, finance, plus food and beverage. Advertisers will be able to sponsor “related questions” below answers and buy display ads to the right or a Perplexity-generated answer.

According to the presentation, more than 8 in 10 Perplexity users have an undergraduate degree, while 3 in 10 are in a “senior leadership position” and 65% are in “high-income white-collar professions,” such as medicine, law and software engineering.

AI-assisted search has been viewed by investors as one of Google’s key risks, as it potentially changes the way consumers access information online. OpenAI, which started the generative AI craze in late 2022 with ChatGPT, introduced a search engine last month called SearchGPT. In May, Google launched “AI Overviews” in search, allowing users to see a quick summary of answers at the top of results.

Correction: A prior version of this story mistakenly said the company has 230 million users per month. Rather, it answers 230 million queries per month.

]

AI search engine Perplexity is expected to launch ads in Q4 in “15 key categories.”

Ad categories. Here are some categories where Perplexity ads will appear:

Arts and entertainment.

Finance.

Food and beverage

Health.

Technology.

Video ads. Advertisers will be able to run video ads on mobile (at the top of related questions) or desktop (on the side screen).

“These ads will be accompanied by text that highlights their products,” Adweek reported.

Sponsored questions. The pitch deck confirmed Perplexity’s plans to let advertisers pay to appear on related questions. We reported on Perplexity’s plans to sell ads for related questions in April. When a user clicks on a sponsored question, it will trigger an answer like an organic question, according to the reports.

Perplexity processes more than 230 million queries globally per month, according to the pitch deck.

The reports. CNBC and Adweek (registration required) both reported on details from a pitch deck for the upcoming ad product.

回到上一頁