• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, December 5, 2024

Perplexity has pulled in a dozen new partners to its Publishers’ Program, claiming that it is contributing to a fair and open information ecosystem--quite a PR coup for the AI-driven search engine.  

The incoming brands include: The Independent, Lee Enterprises, Los Angeles Times, MediaLab, Mexico News Daily, Minkabu Infonoid, NewsPicks, Prisa Media, RTL Germany brands stern and ntv, World History Encyclopedia, AdWeek, Blavity, DPReview and Gear Patrol.

They join existing partners like Time, Fortune, and Der Spiegel.

Announced in July, the program allows publishers to share in advertising revenue while providing access to Perplexity’s APIs and developer support.

These partners also will receive free Perplexity Enterprise Pro for a year for their entire company, and data analytics for tracking content performance and trends. 

“Perplexity’s first-of-its-kind publisher program reimagines how technology companies and news publishers collaborate, ensuring that media companies can benefit as we continue to grow,” says Jessica Chan, Perplexity’s new head of publisher partnerships. “We would not be able to serve factual, valuable answers without news organizations continuing to report on different topics.”

Of course, not everyone in the publishing business loves Perplexity. For instance, Dow Jones has sued the company alleging that Perplexity is “freeriding on the valuable content” produced by publishers. It specifies two Dow Jones publications: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.

And, The New York Times has sent a cease and desist letter. 

But others want to hear about how the program works: Perplexity says it has heard from over 100. 

We can expect to see more publishers named on both sides of the issue.