Reddit Launches New Keyword Targeting and Product Ad Options

Reddit has announced some new ad options, as it continues to refine its business focus, with a view to maximizing its revenue potential.

Which has also seen it spark a new battle with users over API pricing – which makes this a somewhat oddly-timed announcement. But nonetheless, you now have some new considerations for your Reddit ad campaigns.

First off, Reddit’s launching Contextual Keyword Targeting, to help marketers get their ads in front of a broader range of users in the app.

As explained by Reddit:

“Contextual Keyword Targeting gives advertisers the option to select specific keywords to associate with their brand, or even align keywords with their creative ad copy for added relevance. With so much direct traffic to Reddit conversation threads originating from high intent organic searches or research sessions, Contextual Keyword Targeting unlocks value for advertisers during and after discussions unfold, since we know Reddit threads live on as valuable, searchable resources for our users.”

So rather than focusing on specific communities, you’ll also now be able to use related keywords in your campaign set-up, which will then see your ads shown to users who engage with those terms and discussions.

To be clear, Reddit already offers community, interest, and location targeting options within its ad setup process, with this new element set to provide more capacity to associate an expanded range of keywords with your campaign. So rather than restricting your reach to certain subreddits, you’ll be able to go broader, based on the terms that specific users engage with, which could be of major benefit to some brands.

Reddit’s also launching Product Ads, which will include product descriptions and pricing info, as well as a ‘Shop Now’ CTA to guide purchase activity.

As you can see in this example, Reddit’s product ads are aimed at driving direct shopping activity, with the CTA button referring viewers back to the advertisers’ website.

“Product Ads are aimed at seamlessly connecting brands with consumers when they are already in research mode and primed to make a purchase decision. Integrated into the shopping journeys already happening on Reddit, Product Ads are a natural next step in the consideration process as users gear up to make a purchase.”

Reddit says that Product Ads can also be built direct from a business’ existing product catalog, with no need for additional creative resources, streamlining the listing process.

“If an advertiser is already activating shopping campaigns on other platforms, they can easily import those same catalogs to the Reddit Ads Manager.”

Given that many people now use Reddit as a key product search engine, in order to glean real insights from actual humans, as opposed to hand-picked endorsements on company sites, or paid comments in other formats, it could be a valuable consideration, especially for brands that see positive attention in certain subreddits.

Though it’s that human insight value that’s also sparked the latest backlash at Reddit, with many subreddits set to ‘go dark’ next week in protest over Reddit’s increased API pricing, which will put many helpful third-party Reddit apps out of business. As of Monday, the platform could be very quiet indeed, though thus far, Reddit has seemed unmoved in its strategy, which it’s implementing to stop other platforms from benefiting from its breadth of user-submitted insights and data.   

What the expanded impacts of that will be, we don’t know, but it’s another area to watch as the platform continues to seek more monetization opportunities.