Perplexity’s India giveaway yields 14M users, 60% revenue boost

Perplexity’s aggressive growth experiment in India—partnering with telecom giant Airtel to offer free 12-month Pro subscriptions—paid off in spades. The campaign began in July 2025, granting 360 million Airtel customers access to Perplexity Pro (valued at $200) for a year. The offer generated 56 million downloads over seven months, a ninefold increase from the prior seven-month period, and sent monthly active users soaring from 2.6 million to a peak of 22 million in October 2025. Sensor Tower data shows downloads alone surged by 625% in July 2025 compared to June, surpassing Perplexity’s total downloads in the first half of the year.

However, the post-offer reality is more nuanced. While downloads plummeted by over 90% after the January 2026 redemption cutoff, user retention remained strong. Monthly active users dropped to 14 million by July 2026 but still exceeded pre-offer levels fivefold. Revenue trends further defied expectations: in-app purchase and subscription revenue in India rose about 60% post-offer, with average daily revenue 27% higher than the first half of 2026. This suggests some users, having experienced Pro features for free, are converting to paid subscriptions—though the data doesn’t confirm if Airtel users specifically are driving this growth.