News Publishers Increase Their Efforts On Reddit As Traffic Soars

Responding to shifting traffic patterns

These efforts, which are motivated in part by the increasing search visibility of Reddit, also come as a response to shifting traffic patterns more broadly. 

Social referrals from Facebook have declined 58% since 2018, according to data from the measurement firm Chartbeat. And disruptions to search traffic posed by artificial intelligence—not to mention algorithm updates—have spurred publishers to look elsewhere for new sources of readership.

The strategy reflects the increasing atomization of the internet, as well as how publishers have responded to find and serve their audiences. Just as news organizations have worked to diversify their revenue makeups in recent years, they have also placed a renewed emphasis on cultivating a broad portfolio of traffic referral sources.

“We all know that the era of big social as a traffic driver is over and will never return,” said Josh Awtry, the senior vice president of audience development at Newsweek. “Every publisher is looking to see where its next batch of readers can come from, and Reddit is poised to win in this next era of conversation.”

New tools from Reddit facilitate publishers’ efforts

For publishers looking to work more closely with Reddit, their timing could not have been better. 

Reddit, which joined the public markets in March, has released a suite of new products over the last year designed to make the platform easier to navigate for brands, including news publishers, according to Sarah Rosen, senior director of media business development.

Among these new tools is a simplified version of its AMA feature, which makes the iconic Reddit product far simpler to use. There is also an improved embed product, which enables reporters to more easily include Reddit posts into stories. A tool called Reddit Pro is a free dashboard that displays analytics that helps brands understand how users are engaging with their content.

Publishers including The Independent, Yahoo, Puck, and The Philadelphia Inquirer have all used the new AMA function, which allows them to schedule and promote the AMA ahead of time, add co-hosts, and end it with a note. 

In April, The Independent hosted an AMA with two of its politics reporters discussing the Trump criminal trial, which generated over 200 comments and questions, according to audience editor Valentina Botero.

“We have a renewed focus on how we are supporting publishers, and bridging the gap between publishers and communities is a big part of that,” Rosen said. “Our goal isn’t to make our partners dependent on Reddit—it’s to make Reddit additive to what they’re already doing.”