Customer Story
How Maeil Business Newspaper delivers on-site deep research capabilities to its readers using Perplexity’s Sonar API
Perplexity Sonar API
Metrics
44.3% increase in searches
22.6% increase in search users
26.7% of search users click pre-populated questions (as of May)
Sonar's innovative search function provides our readers with greater depth and accessibility. We were thrilled to see how it enhanced the reader experience by creating a new route for learning while highlighting our work in tandem. As we continue to incorporate AI across our organization, Perplexity will play a critical role in shaping our digital culture.
Myungsoo Kim, Director of Digital Media at Maeil Business Newspaper
Maeil Business Newspaper is South Korea’s leading business and economic media outlets. Since its inception in 1966, the publisher has gained nationwide acclaim, ranking as the most-read mobile news outlet in Korea in 2022. Maeil Business Newspaper Co. also publishes Miracle Letter, a digital newsletter recognized by the World Association of Newspapers for excellence in digital media. In addition, its business weekly, Maekyung Economy, is Korea’s largest business weekly with a broad range of readership. Along with their prestigious broadcasting station, MBN, Maeil provides prompt and accurate information and in-depth analysis.
The Task
Accelerating access to on-site information with AI-powered searches
As Korea's premier economic media company, Maeil Business Newspaper prides itself on delivering accurate and up-to-date information to millions of daily readers. While the publisher’s website contains an abundance of in-depth articles (spanning 14 unique categories), accessing the insights within them was a challenging process.
With 600+ articles published on Maeil's website daily, readers needed a way to access information on their own time. Maeil previously offered an on-site search feature to steer readers in the right direction, but it still forced them to sift through several articles related to their query to uncover the insights they needed.
Maeil hypothesized that AI could enhance its on-site search experience by pulling information across existing articles to answer its readers' questions. However, after exploring several prominent AI-powered solutions, Maeil found most weren't optimized for search, to the point where answers were prone to hallucinations.
Maeil quickly discovered it needed a dedicated AI answer engine that was:
Trustworthy
Maeil knew discerning readers would distrust search results without proper citations. To put their qualms to rest while bolstering visibility across existing articles, Maeil sought a solution that would link each generated answer to an internal source.
Efficient
To ensure its millions of daily readers had reliable access to the insights they craved, Maeil needed an AI answer engine that could deliver in-depth information at scale.
Accessible
Knowing that its readers had varying levels of technological proficiency, Maeil's AI answer engine would need to be capable of delivering comprehensive answers from even the most basic queries.
The Solution
Delivering data-backed and digestible insights in seconds
Maeil’s AI Task Force at Maekyung Media Group led the onboarding process. They jointly developed strategies with Perplexity's internal team surrounding Sonar deployment while introducing a new AI search option for Maeil's readers.
With Perplexity's Sonar API, Maeil condenses information spanning thousands of articles into digestible answers to its readers' most pressing questions.
For instance, a reader might input a query asking, “What policy changes will help Korea reach carbon neutrality by 2050?” Maeil's Sonar-powered search will pull the most relevant information across the publisher's existing articles into a comprehensive answer in seconds. Plus, each search result cites the original article to boost reader engagement and solidify trustworthiness.
The benefits don't stop with economic enlightenment. Because Maeil's articles span a vast range of categories (from business insights to tech and even real estate), its readers can access insights that are also applicable to their daily lives.
In one case, a newlywed couple was preparing to buy their first home and used Maeil's Sonar-powered search to explore housing support policies. In another example, an investor concerned with U.S. stock market volatility used the search to obtain investment advice grounded in recent economic trends, including specific company and sector insights. And there is an added benefit for the publisher – this relevance extends the amount of time readers spend on their site.
What started as a push to democratize access to internal information quickly evolved into a comprehensive reworking of Maeil's value prop to its readers. Today, Maeil's Sonar-powered searches stand as one of its most outstanding benefits to readers.
The Result
Amplifying search queries by 44.3%
As Maeil predicted, Perplexity’s Sonar API enhanced how readers consume information across its website. Since introducing Sonar's search feature, the number of searches on the website has increased by 44.3%, demonstrating how the inclusion encourages curiosity and learning. Now, readers can explore the Korean economic landscape with ease, without having to navigate away from Maeil's website.
However, Maeil's AI transformation has just begun. The publisher plans to dive deeper into Perplexity’s Sonar API, recommending follow-up questions based explicitly on Maeil’s existing content to drive higher on-site metrics. As Maeil's number of published articles continues to grow, its investment in AI ensures no insight goes unread.
