Introduction to Comet Plus
Perplexity has introduced Comet Plus, a monthly subscription service that compensates participating publishers for their content when it is read by humans or used by AI systems to answer questions. The company states that a significant portion of the subscriber payments will go to the partners, with a small percentage retained to cover the costs of computation.
How Comet Plus Works
Comet Plus is available for a monthly fee of $5. However, existing Perplexity Pro and Max subscribers will have access to Comet Plus without any additional charges. Subscribers to Comet Plus will have direct access to the websites of participating publishers, receive answers informed by those sources, and have access to agent workflows that can complete tasks on those sites. This service is closely tied to the Comet browser and assistant.
Revenue Sharing Model
Perplexity has positioned Comet Plus as a compensation model for the AI-centric web. The revenue sharing model is based on three types of interactions: human visits to the website, search citations, and agent actions. For instance, when the Comet Assistant scans a calendar and suggests relevant reading from publisher sites, it is considered "agent traffic." This model reflects the changing ways in which people consume information, including browsing, AI answers, and agent workflows.
Types of Interactions
The three types of interactions that trigger payments to publishers are:
- Human visits: When a person visits a publisher’s website.
- Search citations: When a publisher’s content is cited in search results.
- Agent actions: When an AI assistant, like Comet, uses a publisher’s content to answer questions or complete tasks.
Availability and Sign-up
Publishers who are interested in joining the Comet Plus program can email publishers@perplexity.ai to request more information and sign up. This program has the potential to expand monetization and measurement opportunities for publishers and marketers beyond traditional click-based models.
Why Comet Plus Matters
Comet Plus differs from traditional flat-fee deals because it ties payouts to actual user and assistant activity. This could lead to more accurate compensation that reflects real demand for a publisher’s content. As AI usage of online content becomes more prevalent, websites are exploring various responses, including blocking crawlers or signing licenses. Comet Plus offers a unique approach by compensating publishers based on how their content is used.
Looking Ahead
Perplexity plans to announce its initial roster of publishing partners when the Comet browser becomes available to all users for free. The success of Comet Plus will depend on early adoption, transparency in reporting, and the generation of real revenue for partners. If successful, this model could become a viable framework for compensating publishers in an AI-centric web.
Conclusion
Comet Plus is an innovative approach to compensating publishers for their content in a world where AI is increasingly used to answer questions and complete tasks. By tying payouts to actual user and assistant activity, Comet Plus has the potential to provide more accurate and fair compensation for publishers. As the web continues to evolve, it will be important to monitor the success of Comet Plus and its impact on the publishing industry.