LONDON, UK – Since its public debut in 2024, Reddit has rapidly emerged as one of the most dynamic platforms in the digital media landscape. A new report from WARC Media now projects the company’s global advertising revenue to reach $1.8 billion in 2025, a 49.6% year-on-year increase outpacing the overall social media advertising market by a factor of three.
Reddit’s growth reflects a broader shift in advertiser priorities: from chasing fleeting impressions to building sustained engagement within trusted, interest-based communities. Unlike its competitors, Reddit doesn’t view itself as traditional social media. Instead, it strives to be “an alternative to social media” – one rooted in conversation, discovery and user-generated expertise.
Celeste Huang, Media Insights Analyst, WARC Media, and author of the report, said: “Reddit’s ad business is currently relatively small, but its impressive ad spend growth, its increasing reach, which now surpasses X, and its investment in AI is catching the attention of a wider pool of advertisers.”
Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media, added: “This latest Platform Insights report provides evidence-based insights on the challenges and opportunities Reddit has to offer advertisers, and explores its latest trends across investment, consumption and performance.”
In just one year, Reddit’s ad revenue surged from $1.2 billion to a forecast $1.8 billion, with WARC predicting a further rise to $2.5 billion by 2026. Mid- and lower-funnel advertising already accounts for 60% of the company’s revenue, while brand advertising, the top of the funnel, is growing at its fastest pace in over three years.
Despite this, Reddit currently commands just 0.4% of global social media ad spend, underscoring its considerable headroom for expansion.
The platform is strategically leveraging artificial intelligence to support this growth. From AI-powered moderation and multilingual translation to content licensing and the popular Reddit Answers feature, which attracted over one million weekly users in Q1 2025. Reddit is investing deeply in tools that enhance ad relevance and performance.
Reddit’s global ad reach now spans 606 million users – equivalent to one in every 14 people on Earth – surpassing X (formerly Twitter) and drawing closer to Snapchat’s 709 million.
Daily active unique users (DAUs) grew 31% year-on-year to 108.1 million in Q1 2025, with much of this growth coming from an increasingly diversified audience. While Reddit’s user base skews slightly male (59.8%), age demographics are broad: 41% of US users are aged 18–34, while those 45 and older represent a significant 34%.
In terms of usage behavior, Reddit stands out. It was one of Google’s top 20 search terms in 2024 and ranked sixth over the past 90 days, according to CEO Steve Huffman. This suggests a strong alignment with user intent – especially for product discovery, knowledge-seeking and peer validation.
Geographically, its top five markets by weekly views include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Australia. Furthermore, 30% of Redditors are not on Facebook and 63% are not on Pinterest, presenting a unique opportunity for brands seeking underrepresented digital audiences.
ne of Reddit’s key differentiators lies in the authenticity of its platform. A full 25% of posts are recommendation-related, and 43% of product-seeking conversations involve users actively looking for alternatives — offering fertile ground for brand discovery.
Crucially, Reddit users trust what they see: 76% believe posts on Reddit are more “honest and truthful” than those on other platforms. As users turn to Reddit for peer-driven advice, brands that participate organically are rewarded.
Research shows that a single organic weekly brand post can increase positive user mentions by 3.5%, while engaging with user-generated threads through three meaningful comments can boost brand sentiment by 2.2%.
Reddit’s conversational ad formats, such as Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions and Reddit Pro Trends, help foster genuine interaction and community resonance. This conversational dynamic enables brands to integrate themselves seamlessly into the platform’s ecosystem without disrupting its native experience.
AI investments are also enhancing Reddit’s lower-funnel capabilities. In Q1 2025, advertisers using Dynamic Product Ads and standard conversion campaigns reported a 2x return on ad spend (ROAS). In addition, Reddit’s most recent media mix modeling (MMM) meta-analysis found the platform to be one of the top two paid social platforms in efficiency, contributing up to 11% of incremental impact across broader media plans.
Reddit’s unique blend of community engagement, AI-powered tools, and strong user intent positions it as an increasingly attractive destination for advertisers seeking high-quality, authentic interactions.
With AI enabling smarter campaigns, and consumers demanding greater trust and relevance from brand experiences, Reddit’s momentum suggests it will remain a formidable force in reshaping digital advertising – not just as a social platform, but as a next-generation knowledge and discovery engine.
Reddit is part of a series of reports exclusive to WARC Media subscribers. This latest report follows recent Platform Insights such as Amazon, TikTok, Spotify and Facebook.
