Reddit will place ads within search results as pressure grows amid traffic decline.
Reddit has begun testing ad placements within search pages, which will allow advertisers to access users as they search for recommendations, products, and other information within the platform.
This comes just days after Reddit’s shares dropped by 29% (Friday 30 October) after it published its Q3 earnings report – its largest ever, single-day, stock market drop and the lowest level in more than a year.
The platform warned that Google’s AI search features such as AI Mode and AI Overview have led to a decline in traffic to the site and caused the user base to shrink.
Reddit confirmed: “Ads in search may appear based on a range of factors, including contextual relevance to a user’s search query.”
“This is an initial test with a select group of eligible advertisers. During this test, we will evaluate and understand how users respond to these ads so we can refine the experience for users and advertisers over time.”
Reddit gave an example of office chair ads, which may appear when users search for a phrase like ‘home office setup’.
This will operate in a similar way to search engines, which match relevant phrases or search queries with ads.
Reddit currently features ads in a variety of formats across its feed, including sponsored posts, videos, images, and Ask Me Anythings (AMA).
In a statement, Reddit said: “This is an initial test with a select group of eligible advertisers. During this test, we will evaluate and understand how users respond to these ads so we can refine the experience for users and advertisers over time.”
A number of changes have been implemented to the Reddit platform, including new ‘For You’ feeds and ‘Following’ pages. This will be a change from Reddit’s traditional feed structure, which mixes recommendations with content from subreddits that users follow.
