Why Big Brands Are Suddenly Getting Cozy With Reddit

Just six months ago, Reddit—whose famous slogan is "The front page of the internet"—was a dangerous place for marketers because of its reputation as a pool of trolling and harassment. Now, the viral-minded site is trying to flip the narrative and draw in advertisers with new ad targeting and buying technology and an in-house studio that specializes in creating custom content. And heavy-hitter brands including Coca-Cola, eBay and Procter & Gamble have all come on board in recent months. "What makes Reddit distinct from an advertising perspective are the same qualities that make it distinct in organic spaces," explained Zubair Jandali, vp of sales at Reddit. "We have 70,000 active communities—few places on the web have audiences that are as passionate as ours." Data backs up Jandali's claim. The publisher's traffic hit 51.4 million monthly users in May, up from 28.4 million a year before, according to comScore. It's the kind of stat that seemingly flies in the face of accusations that Reddit's audience is too niche—and sometimes too cruel—for brands to take seriously. But the goal is simple: capitalize on the massive momentum around native advertising with a specialized team to create content, much like the in-house agencies that have made big-name publishers including The New York Times, The Atlantic and Vox Media leaders in the space. Since January, Reddit has hired a team of five creatives to staff an internal agency that works with brands to create ads... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2016-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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