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Perplexity launches Comet Plus, sharing 80 percent of subscription revenue with publishers including CNN, Condé Nast and The Washington Post

Perplexity launched Comet Plus, a $5 subscription with participating publishers' content, and said about 80 percent of revenue goes to publishers. Launch partners include CNN, Condé Nast, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde and Le Figaro.

SAN FRANCISCO, October 2, 2025 Perplexity launched Comet Plus, a subscription that gives users access to participating publishers' content, and said about 80 percent of the revenue will go to those publishers. Launch partners include CNN, Condé Nast, Fortune, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde and Le Figaro.1

Terms of the deal

Comet Plus costs $5 and is free to existing Perplexity Pro and Max subscribers. Subscribers can access participating publishers' paywalled content, and AI assistants can complete tasks on those sites and build answers from their content.1 About 80 percent of Comet Plus revenue goes to participating publishers, along with $5 from each Pro and Max subscription. Payments are allocated using human visits, search citations and agent actions. The article gave no total dollar figure and no per-action rates.1

Background

Perplexity had earlier run a separate ad revenue-share program with publishers including Time, Der Spiegel, The Texas Tribune, The Independent, Adweek, Gannett and Lee Enterprises. Coverage said Perplexity was still in talks with those publishers about Comet Plus.1 Perplexity also faced lawsuits from publishers and reference sites over its use of their content.

What it means for data sellers

Revenue-sharing deals trade guaranteed fees for exposure to usage. A seller should ask for the size of the pool, the allocation formula and audit rights. Flat fees give certainty, while shares can scale if the buyer's product grows. Sellers should also check whether a program covers training, retrieval or both.

How the deal came together

  1. Subscription product built around publishers. Comet Plus gives subscribers access to participating publishers' paywalled content through Perplexity's browser and assistant.
  2. Revenue pool. About 80 percent of Comet Plus revenue goes to participating publishers, plus $5 from each Pro and Max subscription.
  3. Payout by use. Revenue is allocated based on human visits, search citations and agent actions.
  4. Launch partners named. Perplexity named seven publishers at launch and said it was still talking to others.

Takeaways for companies with data

  • Revenue shares depend on how the buyer measures use, so ask how payouts are calculated.
  • The percentage matters less than the size of the pool it applies to.
  • Compare rev-share programs with flat licenses before choosing.

Sources

Every numbered reference above points to an entry here. Figures come from these pages as of the date shown at the top of the article. Where a source reports a number it got from unnamed people, the text says so.

  1. Perplexity launches AI subscription revenue share scheme for publishers (Press Gazette, October 2025)

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About the AI Data Deal Tracker

SellYourAIData tracks publicly reported sales and licenses of data to AI companies, with the price, terms and sources for each. Entries are checked against public reporting and updated as deals change. SellYourAIData was not involved in this deal. To ask what your company's data could sell for, get a free valuation. To report a deal, contact us.