Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro announced that he’ll be taking a fresh approach with a new ad partner in 2025. Instead of traditional ad reads, “The Ben Shapiro Show,” one of the most popular podcasts in the world, will integrate the AI search platform Perplexity as part of their first native ad integration.
Perplexity will be used mid-show to verify claims, explore cultural topics, and highlight Shapiro’s unapologetic pursuit of highlighting “facts over feelings,” per ADWEEK.
A press release for the initiative called Perplexity “the conversational ‘answer engine’ designed to revolutionize the way users discover information.”
“Perplexity provides instant, factual, and unbiased answers to any question with full sources and citations included, sparing users from having to compare answers or endlessly dig for information,” the press release adds.
The tech company’s chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko said of the partnership, “Ben very much prides himself on fearlessly pursuing the truth. This was just a good fit.”
“The world changes fast, and now Ben doesn’t have to search endless webpages of information because he can turn to Perplexity for real-time context and facts on the most important issues of the day,” Shevelenko added.
The pair met at President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. The partnership represents a shift in how tech companies treat conservatives, which previously had been extremely biased toward leftists. It was also telling that Google and Meta heads were present at the inauguration.
“Trump went on a bunch of podcasts, and it helped him win,” Shevelenko said. “If there’s a lesson from 2024 … not choosing to engage with certain types of media is not good strategy. You need to be where a lot of people are.”
Perplexity, which has a valuation of $9 billion, also did a spot during a Sunday Night Football ad featuring Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh — but, the outlet noted, the deal with “The Ben Shapiro Show” is a little different, as it aims to integrate seamlessly with the content and not feel so much like a traditional ad.
The Daily Wire’s SVP of Ad Revenue Christine Hoffman called the new partnership “significant.”
“This would put Perplexity in the range of our top ad partners who are currently spending with The Daily Wire,” Hoffmann said.
“Ben has famously quipped that ‘Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings,’ so we’re thrilled to partner with a company like Perplexity that aligns so well with Ben’s—and his audience’s—reverence for the truth.” added Hoffmann.
THE TAKEDOWN: AOC losing to facts in today’s Takedown segment powered by new search partner @perplexity_ai pic.twitter.com/9JAdJYknGV
— The Ben Shapiro Show (@BenShapiroShow) March 7, 2025
Shapiro utilized the new partnership on his show which aired on Friday, March 7, during a segment of the podcast called The Takedown. While refuting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) claim that President Trump just pushed through tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, Shapiro asked Perplexity, “What percentage of total income taxes did the top 1% pay in 2016, and what percentage did the top 1% pay in income taxes in 2020?”
The search platform found that in 2016, the top 1% paid 37.3%, and in 2020, they paid nearly 42% of all income taxes.
“So all that talk about how the richest in our society were sort of disproportionately benefited by the Trump tax cuts – if that’s so, then why did we pay a larger share of the taxes total than we did before the Trump tax cuts?” Shapiro asked.
