Reddit Introduces Max Campaigns, Its New Automated Campaign Type via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Reddit is rolling out Max campaigns, a new automated campaign type now available in beta for traffic and conversion objectives.

The launch comes as Reddit continues to see strong advertiser momentum, supported by rising daily active users and rapid growth in conversion activity.

While automation is now standard across most paid media platforms, Reddit is positioning Max campaigns as a way to simplify campaign management without asking advertisers to operate with limited visibility into performance or audience behavior.

How Reddit Max Campaigns Work

Max campaigns are designed to reduce setup complexity and ongoing management by automating several decisions advertisers typically make manually.

This includes the following, all within guardrails defined by the advertiser:

The system is powered by Reddit Community Intelligence™, which draws from more than 23 billion posts and comments to help predict the value of each ad impression in real time. These signals allow campaigns to adjust delivery dynamically as performance data changes, rather than relying on static rules or frequent manual intervention.

Max campaigns also introduce optional creative automation tools. Advertisers can generate headline suggestions based on trending Reddit language, automatically adapt images into Reddit-friendly thumbnails, and soon will be able to use AI-based video cropping to more easily reuse video assets from other platforms.

In the announcement, Reddit reports that more than 600 advertisers participated in alpha testing. Across 17 split tests conducted between June and August 2025, advertisers saw an average 17% lower cost per acquisition and 27% more conversions compared to business-as-usual campaigns.

In one example, Brooks Running reported a 37% decrease in cost per click and 27% more clicks over a 21-day campaign without making manual changes.

Why This Matters For Advertisers

Platforms like Google and Meta have spent the last several years pushing advertisers toward AI-driven campaign types that consolidate targeting, creative, and bidding into a single system. Performance Max, Advantage+, and similar offerings have become the default recommendation for scaling efficiency.

Reddit’s Max campaigns follow that same directional shift, but with a notable difference in emphasis. Where Google and Meta largely optimize toward outcomes while abstracting audience detail, Reddit is attempting to pair automation with clearer audience context.

On Google and Meta, advertisers often evaluate AI campaigns based on aggregate performance metrics alone, with limited insight into who is driving results beyond high-level breakdowns. Reddit is positioning Max campaigns as a way to automate delivery while still helping advertisers understand which types of users are engaging, what they care about, and how conversations influence response.

Top Audience Personas reflect this approach. Instead of relying solely on predefined segments or modeled interests, Reddit uses community and conversation signals to surface patterns in how real users engage with ads. These insights are not meant to replace targeting decisions, but to inform creative strategy, messaging, and where Reddit fits within a broader media mix.

For advertisers who have grown cautious of automation that prioritizes efficiency at the expense of understanding, this added layer of insight may be the differentiator.

What Advertisers Should Do Next

Max campaigns are now available in beta for traffic and conversion objectives to select advertisers, with wider access expected over the coming months. Top Audience Persona reporting is scheduled to roll out shortly after.

For advertisers already running Reddit campaigns, this is best treated as a controlled test. Running Max campaigns alongside existing setups can help clarify where automation improves efficiency and where hands-on input, especially around creative and community fit, still matters.

Advertisers coming from Performance Max or Advantage+ should expect familiar mechanics, but different signals. Reddit’s value is tied to conversation and context, so creative testing and message alignment will likely play a larger role than pure audience tuning.

As with any beta, things will change. The near-term opportunity is not just performance lift, but learning how Reddit’s version of automation behaves and where it fits alongside other AI-led campaigns in a broader media mix.