Reddit is like the person who can’t stop talking about how different they are. And to be fair, when the book about your company is called “We Are The Nerds”, you probably are a bit different.
Founded in 2005, the platform hosts 1.2m+ message boards (AKA subreddits) about every topic imaginable. It facilitates conversations by using moderators as well as an up-or-down voting system instead of likes and shares.
The setup has created a different — and less lucrative — business outcome than 2 other social platforms founded around the same time: Facebook (2004) and Twitter (2006).
Those 2 election lightning rods held their IPOs long ago
Meanwhile, Reddit remains private and has largely stayed mum on even its most basic social engagement stats.
That is, until this week: According to the Wall Street Journal, Reddit averaged 52m daily active users in October — a figure that pales in comparison to its mid-2000 startup pals, Facebook (1.82B) and Twitter (187m).
Reddit is growing, though
Its reported daily user number is up 44% YoY while the company’s ad business — which did $100m in 2019 — is projected to grow by 70%+ this year.
One ad exec told the WSJ that “Reddit is in the experimental bucket of budgets for advertising,” and falls far behind its social competitors in scale.
However, the “potential for upside is big.”
Being different makes Reddit special — and maybe, sooner or later, a real moneymaker.
