How Maeil Business Newspaper delivers on-site deep research capabilities to its readers using Perplexity’s Sonar API

The Problem

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 in 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 hypothesised 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 optimised 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.

When Maeil’s team discovered Perplexity’s Sonar API, it was clear they had found the impeccably accurate answer engine needed to enhance their readers’ on-site experience.

The Solution

Delivering data-backed and digestible insights in seconds

Maeil’s AI Task Force at Maekyung Media Group led the onboarding process. It worked jointly with Perplexity’s internal team to develop strategies for deploying Sonar 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 enter 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 from across the publisher’s existing articles into a comprehensive answer in seconds. What’s more, each search result cites the original article to boost reader engagement and reinforce trustworthiness.

The benefits don’t stop at economic enlightenment. Because Maeil’s articles span a vast range of categories (from business insights to tech and even property), its readers can access insights that also apply to their daily lives.

In one case, a newly married couple preparing to buy their first home used Maeil’s Sonar-powered search to explore housing support policies. In another example, an investor concerned about US 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 its site.

What started as a push to democratise access to internal information quickly evolved into a comprehensive reworking of Maeil’s value proposition to its readers. Today, Maeil’s Sonar-powered search stands as one of its most outstanding benefits to readers.

The Result

Amplifying search queries by 44.3%

As Maeil predicted, Perplexity’s Sonar API has enhanced how readers consume information across its website. Since the introduction of Sonar’s search feature, the number of searches on the website has increased by 44.3%, demonstrating how the addition 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 only just begun. The publisher plans to delve deeper into Perplexity’s Sonar API, recommending follow-up questions based explicitly on Maeil’s existing content to drive higher on-site metrics. As the number of articles Maeil publishes continues to grow, its investment in AI ensures that no insight goes unread.

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