Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India
| Source: TechCrunch AI
Tags: Perplexity, Airtel, India, AI adoption, freemium, user acquisition, emerging markets
Perplexity's 12-month free Pro giveaway to Airtel's 360 million Indian subscribers drove 56 million app downloads over 7 months — and India revenue rose ~60% after the offer ended, providing rare concrete data on whether freemium AI bundling converts to paying users in emerging markets.
Details
This TechCrunch analysis reveals concrete results from one of AI's largest-scale freemium experiments. Perplexity partnered with Airtel in July 2025 to give away 12-month Pro subscriptions (normally ~$200) to India's second-largest telecom operator's 360 million customers. Downloads spiked 625% month-over-month to 5.9 million in July 2025, and total downloads reached 56 million over the 7-month window — more than 9× the preceding 7-month period. Monthly active users peaked at 22 million in October 2025. As the earliest Airtel-redeemed subscriptions expired last month, MAUs settled to ~14 million — down 37% from peak but still more than 5× the pre-offer baseline of ~2.6 million. The most telling signal: India revenue rose approximately 60% after the offer closed to new users in January, even as downloads fell 90% (from ~7.9M/month to ~550K/month). The data provides a rare real-world benchmark for the telecom-bundling strategy being pursued across the AI industry. The 60% revenue uplift suggests real conversion from free to paid, though absolute figures were not disclosed. For Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI — all pursuing similar India distribution plays — this is useful calibration.