Perplexity’s Airtel Giveaway Drives India Growth as Revenue Test Begins
Perplexity’s Airtel giveaway drove 56 million India downloads, while July 2026 revenue hit $156,000, but voluntary paid conversion remains unclear for now.
Summary
Perplexity’s July 2025 deal offered Airtel’s 360 million customers 12 free months of Perplexity Pro, worth about $200; Airtel is India’s second largest telecom operator. Claims ended January 16, 2026, but access lasted a year from activation, so the earliest subscriptions expired in July and auto renewed unless canceled. Sensor Tower recorded 5.9 million India downloads in July 2025, up 625% from June and above the 5.4 million from 2025’s first half. During the seven month claim window, downloads reached 56 million, over nine times the preceding seven months; monthly users reached 8.9 million in July and peaked near 22 million in October.
After claims closed, February to July downloads sank over 90% against the prior six months to 3.3 million. July monthly users remained nearly 14 million, down 37% from the peak but over five times the roughly 2.6 million average in 2025’s first half. Sensor Tower estimates February to mid August in app revenue rose about 60% from the claim period; July 18 to August 12 daily revenue beat the prior 30 days by 9% and 2026’s first half average by 27%. Auto renewals prevent Sensor Tower from separating voluntary conversions, missed cancellations and other paying customers.
Appfigures measured daily downloads jumping from 11,200 before launch to 223,000 in week one and 305,000 from mid September to mid October, while OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude stayed stable. It put monthly net mobile revenue at $34,000 in January 2025, $70,000 in December and $156,000 in July 2026; $878,000 in 2026’s first seven months exceeded all 2025 revenue by 16%. CEO Ariel Michaeli said visibility may have attracted non Airtel payers. OpenAI made ChatGPT Go free for one year in August 2025; Google offered eligible Reliance Jio users AI Pro free for 18 months. Later renewals will clarify conversion; Perplexity did not comment.
Positives
- 56 million downloads during the seven month claim window exceeded the preceding seven months by more than nine times.
- Nearly 14 million monthly users remained in July, over five times Perplexity’s roughly 2.6 million average in 2025’s first half.
- $156,000 in July 2026 net mobile revenue was more than double Appfigures’ $70,000 estimate for December.
- $878,000 earned during 2026’s first seven months exceeded Perplexity’s entire estimated 2025 India revenue by 16%.
- Sensor Tower analyst Abe Yousef said ongoing usage remained resilient after the time limited promotion ended.
- India offers over 1 billion internet subscribers and more than 700 million smartphone users, supporting large scale AI distribution.
Risks & concerns
- 3.3 million downloads from February through July represented a decline exceeding 90% from the preceding six months.
- Nearly 14 million July monthly users remained 37% below October’s peak of about 22 million.
- Automatic renewals mean higher revenue may include customers who missed cancellation deadlines rather than deliberately choosing to pay.
- Sensor Tower cannot separate former Airtel subscribers from other customers or determine how many giveaway users converted voluntarily.
- India leads global generative AI app downloads but remains difficult to monetize because of its price conscious consumer market.