Perplexity has announced a new revenue-sharing program that will pay news publishers out of a $42.5 million pool. This is the first attempt by an AI company to directly compensate media outlets for content use.
Comet Plus, the equivalent of Apple News + for AIs and humans to consume internet content. Coming soon. https://t.co/DD2B9jSfCi
— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) August 25, 2025
The company is starting a new service called Comet Plus, which will be a $5-per-month subscription service launching soon. Existing Perplexity premium subscribers will get access at no extra cost. The best part about this model is that revenue from all subscription tiers, including Comet Plus, Pro, and Max, will be combined, with 80% going to publishers, and Perplexity will keep 20%.
How Publishers Will Get Paid?
The payouts to publishers will be based on three key factors. It includes direct visits to publisher sites via Perplexity’s Comet browser. Instances where publisher content is cited in answers, and AI assistant actions that rely on publisher material.
According to Perplexity, the system is designed to make sure that publishers get fair compensation in the AI era. This is especially important as many media outlets have accused tech firms of using their work without adequate credit or payment.
This news comes at an interesting time. Many leading media companies, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, are pursuing lawsuits against AI platforms for allegedly misusing their content. And unlike licensing deals from OpenAI or Google, Perplexity’s model distributes money directly based on content usage.
The company has positioned this program as a “model for the AI age.” So it looks like with this new revenue-sharing program, the company wants to build long-term partnerships with publishers and ease tensions with the media industry.
Along with the new revenue-sharing announcement, Perplexity recently rolled out price alerts for Perplexity Finance. The feature is only available for Pro and Max subscribers on desktop and mobile web, and it provides AI-powered explanations for why the movement of the stock or crypto happened in the first place. The feature is expected to roll out to mobile apps soon and eventually expand to free users.
