A Look at Reddit's Revamped Ad Platform

Last month, Reddit announced that Lead Generation Ads were in public beta and available globally to all working directly with Reddit advertisers. The new format integrates with the AI automation platform Zapier, making it easier for businesses to send high-quality leads collected in Reddit to a CRM (Customer Relationship Management).

With Reddit’s approach, businesses can engage with diverse yet highly contextualized audiences and capture high-quality leads without leaving the platform, thus adding safety to data collection. Adding lead-generation ads seems like a fitting marketing service for a company like Reddit, whose reach continues expanding and looking to increase its revenue potential. Reddit's specific and far-ranging conversation streams, organized into distinct topics, deliver a targeted opportunity to advertisers looking to gather consumers' information through a clear call-to-action lead generation form.

What you need to know about Reddit

TikTok and Meta might be where companies or small businesses direct most of their advertisement budgets, but Reddit does have a unique appeal. Its community or subreddits system makes it remarkably targeted. As reported by Semrush in April 2024, Reddit has 73.1 million daily active users, 267.5 million weekly active users, and more than 100,000 active subreddits on the platform. 49.79% of Reddit’s daily active users are based in the US, equating to 36.4 million daily active users in the US alone.

According to an article in Search Engine Journal by analytics firm Similarweb, Reddit has experienced a remarkable 39% increase in traffic year over year. The format of the platform makes it particularly interesting to consider advertising. Reddit is a massive collection of communities called subreddits, each organized around a particular topic. Scrolling Reddit makes you feel like the old days of internet forums and message boards.

The communities (or subreddits) are endless and range from r/WorldNews (40M members), r/AskReddit (48M members for a community of Learning and Education), to the more specific r/UpliftingNews (20M) or the humorous r/WatchPeopleDieInside (7.2M) The conversation stream arranged by communities makes niche marketing advertising unparalleled on other platforms.

What are Lead Gen Ads?

Reddit explains that "lead gen ads allow you to collect valuable information from Redditors without driving them offsite. When a user clicks on the ad, a form pops up on-site, allowing them to easily share their contact information in exchange for a follow-up from you: a consultation, discount code, newsletter…you name it." Lead generation ads show in the comment stream, whose links you can follow without leaving the platform. This allows advertisers to collect data such as name or email address more effectively and safely for the consumer.

In the ad example provided by Reddit, you can sign up for Camp Glow without ever leaving the Reddit platform, providing the advertiser with high-quality leads based on your name, number, and email address.

The ads include a “Sign Up” CTA (or similar), which, when clicked, takes the user through to a sign-up form, where they can enter their details.

More traffic, more leads, lower cost

The advertiser's response to the new Reddit lead generation ads platform has been satisfactory. Access to a highly engaged, information-seeking audience has solid marketing value. Lead generation and Reddit's highly contextualized environment seem a great business match. Early advertisers are reportedly getting high-quality traffic, easy and secure information collection, and lower cost per lead compared to traditional conversion campaigns.

With the new Reddit’s Lead Generation Ads, businesses can target specific yet assorted audiences and capture high-quality leads directly on the platform. With Zapier integration, they can easily send those leads directly from Reddit to their CRM. It sounds like a great addition to any marketing campaign.