Gen-AI Search Engine Perplexity Has a Plan to Sell Ads

Perplexity plans to integrate ads by allowing brands to influence the related questions suggested by the AI search engine. These related questions, which make up 40% of Perplexity’s queries, will start featuring native ads. The idea is to introduce brand-sponsored questions alongside organic ones without disrupting the core flow of the platform.

Perplexity will launch its new ad format in the upcoming quarters. However, the exact timeline has not been disclosed by Dmitry Shevelenko, the company's chief business officer.

Perplexity faces several challenges with its native ad units:

• Scale: The search engine must attract enough users to be interesting for marketers.
• Brand Safety Plans: It needs to ensure that the sponsored questions are relevant and do not appear alongside undesirable queries.
• Audience Insights and Targeting: Access to audience insights and effective targeting are crucial for advertisers.
• Brand Safety and Transparency: Advertisers are concerned about the context in which their sponsored questions appear to maintain brand safety.

Perplexity is prioritizing brand safety as it finalizes its product scope plans. The company must ensure that sponsored questions are relevant and do not show up against queries that advertisers do not want to be associated with. This concern for brand safety and transparency is a top consideration for advertisers when deciding whether to shift their ad spend to Perplexity.

Perplexity's business model initially included a $20 monthly subscription fee. However, advertising was always part of the company's strategy to build a great business. By introducing native ads into their AI search engine, Perplexity aims to create a non-disruptive ad format that aligns with the platform's core flow, thus opening a new revenue stream while maintaining the user experience.