Greetings from Candlewood Lake. Perplexity is launching a $5/month subscription service called Comet Plus, and it comes with a payout model for publishers. When a user asks a question (and Perplexity pulls from licensed news content), the publisher gets paid. The company is setting aside $42.5 million for the first phase and says 80 per cent of Comet Plus revenue will go to participating publishers, including revenue from higher-tier plans that bundle the feature for free.
This replaces the old ad-revenue sharing model and builds on Perplexity’s existing deals with outlets like Gannett. It’s also a direct response to legal pressure. News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal and New York Post, sued Perplexity last year for copyright infringement. Others are still in court with OpenAI and other AI firms over similar issues.
The strategy here is simple: avoid lawsuits, license the content and turn generative answers into a paid product. Perplexity isn’t alone. OpenAI has a deal with News Corp. Amazon recently cut one with The New York Times. Google is testing its own publisher tools in NotebookLM and Search.
Will $42.5 million make a dent? No, but this is a time-tested model. If it scales, others will copy it. If it doesn’t, the courts will decide how these systems source and cite content.
Search and web browsing behaviors have measurably shifted. People are asking questions and expecting synthesized, citation-rich answers. The trend is clear. The business must optimize for answer engines. Will the new paradigm remunerate original content creators? Let's see how this goes.
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. -s
P.S. I was on The AI Download with Shira Lazar to talk about AI strategy, what most people are missing in their approach, and where the marketing funnel is headed as AI starts to replace traditional search. Listen here.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
