Reddit Posts Solid Increases in Users and Revenue in Q3

Reddit has published its third performance report as a publicly listed entity, posting steady increases in both usage and revenue in Q3.

First off, on usage. Reddit’s “Daily Active Uniques” (DAUq) increased to 97.2 million in the period, a rise of 6 million on Q2.

As you can see, Reddit’s adding more users both in the U.S. and in other markets, though it’s credited its efforts in developing its translation tools in helping it expand into new regions.

As per Reddit:

“More than half of the user growth from Q2 was driven by international traffic, as we are seeing early momentum with our machine translation strategy across geographies.”

Reddit’s been expanding its post translation options to more languages throughout the year, and that’s now enabling more people, in more regions, to engage in the app.

Which is also important when you look at this graph:

Reddit is still heavily reliant on its U.S. users for its revenue, which means that it has a lot of opportunity to generate more income from other markets, if it can gain more traction and presence.

Reddit says that it also exceeded 100 million DAUq several times during the quarter, which is a record high for the app. I maintain that Reddit probably saw higher usage back in 2019, when it reached 430 million monthly actives, which has since declined as the app has worked to clean up its more controversial elements. But since then, and since Reddit has been tracking daily active usage, it’s a new record, and a new benchmark for the next era of the business.

Interestingly, Reddit also says that its Weekly Active Unique user count (WAUq) averaged 365.4 million in the third quarter, an increase of 53% year-over-year. The amount of daily to weekly usage here is unusual for social apps, which usually see about 2.3x usage between daily and monthly actives. Reddit seemingly sees a lot more than this, which could point to the less consistent way in which visitors use the app.

In terms of revenue, Reddit brought in $348.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 68% year-over-year.

That’s a big jump, which highlights the efforts that Reddit has gone to in building its business. Long seen as the wild west of the web, where anything goes, and the most controversial material can find a home, Reddit’s gone to great effort to make its platform more advertiser-friendly, and with more and more people looking for actual human insight into products to inform their purchase process, it’s now become a key consideration for many marketers.

On that front, Reddit also notes that "Reddit" has been the sixth most Googled word in the U.S. in 2024 thus far, pointing to the value that people now see in Reddit content. That may also account for the variance in daily/weekly users, because a lot of people are now adding “Reddit” to their Google searches, and visiting one a case-by-case basis, as opposed to logging in daily.

That pattern could also factor into your consideration of the app, but either way, the utility that the platform provides is becoming increasingly clear, which is leading to more advertising opportunities.

Reddit’s also making money from data sales, and as AI developers look for human input for their language models, Reddit’s data is considered especially valuable in this sense, due to its consumer insights. Reddit says that it generated $33.2 million in “Other” revenue in Q3, which includes data licensing revenue, an increase of 547% year-over-year.

Among its key partnerships on this front, Reddit has an established data-sharing deal with Google, while it’s also signed a new arrangement with Meltwater for data sharing.

In terms of product updates, Reddit says that its revamped “Ask Me Anything” format has led to “a fivefold increase in the number of AMAs created.”

Reddit also notes that it’s looking to improve its search options, both for users coming to Reddit from external search, and those searching directly in the app, while it also continues to improve its ad options, in alignment with evolving usage trends.

It’s a good result for the platform, which underlines the rising relevance of Reddit as a consideration channel. And while it may not be high on the list for all social media marketers as yet, it is becoming a more valuable consideration, which could be of benefit for your promotions.

You can read Reddit’s full Q3 overview here.