Reddit plans to lock some content behind a paywall this year, CEO says

How will Reddit generate content for paid-for subreddits?

Reddit is planning to introduce a paywall this year, CEO Steve Huffman said during a videotaped Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Thursday.

Huffman previously showed interest in potentially introducing a new type of subreddit with "exclusive content or private areas" that Reddit users would pay to access.

When asked this week about plans for some Redditors to create "content that only paid members can see," Huffman said:

It’s a work in progress right now, so that one’s coming... We're working on it as we speak.

When asked about "new, key features that you plan to roll out for Reddit in 2025," Huffman responded, in part: “Paid subreddits, yes.”

Reddit's paywall would ostensibly only apply to certain new subreddit types, not any subreddits currently available. In August, Huffman said that even with paywalled content, free Reddit would "continue to exist and grow and thrive."

A critical aspect of any potential plan to make Reddit users pay to access subreddit content is determining how related Reddit users will be compensated. Reddit may have a harder time getting volunteer moderators to wrangle discussions on paid-for subreddits—if it uses volunteer mods at all. Balancing paid and free content would also be necessary to avoid polarizing much of Reddit's current user base.

Reddit has had paid-for premium versions of community features before, like r/Lounge, a subreddit that only people with Reddit Gold, which you have to buy with real money, can access.

Reddit would also need to consider how it might compensate people for user-generated content that people pay to access, as Reddit's business is largely built on free, user-generated content. The Reddit Contributor Program, launched in September 2023, could be a foundation; it lets users "earn money for their qualifying contributions to the Reddit community, including awards and karma, collectible avatars, and developer apps," according to Reddit. Reddit says it pays up to $0.01 per 1 Gold received, depending on how much karma the user has earned over the past year. For someone to pay out, they need at least 1,000 Gold, which is equivalent to $10.

Monetizing Reddit users’ interactions

Huffman also said that Reddit is “laying the foundation” for the ability to monetize commerce within subreddits this year, including when Reddit users buy something from another user via discussion on a subreddit. With Reddit marketplace features, Redditors could potentially make these transactions without leaving Reddit. Some subreddits, like r/Watchexchange, where Redditors “buy, sell or trade watches,” according to the subreddit’s description, are centered on transactions. Huffman said the fact that users are already “transacting on Reddit kind of opens the door” for such monetization.

“Though, that might be a little ways off,” the executive noted.

Reddit executives also discussed how they might introduce more ads into the social media platform. The push for ads follows changes to Reddit’s API policy that, in part, led to the closing of most third-party apps used for accessing Reddit. Reddit makes most of its revenue from ads and can only show ads on its native apps and website.

Reddit started testing ads in comments last year, with COO Jen Wong saying during an AMA that such ads are in “about 3 percent of inventory.” The executive hinted at that percentage growing. Wong also shared hopes that contextual advertising, or ads being shown based on the content surrounding them, will be a “bigger part of” Reddit’s business by 2026.

Reddit’s AMA was in relation to its Q4 2024 earnings results announced on Wednesday. The company reported a net income of $71 million for the quarter ending December 31 and a net loss of $484.3 million for 2024. The company notably missed its global daily active uniques target (101.7 million for the quarter versus 103. million), which it attributed to Google changing its search algorithm.

Advance Publications, which owns Ars Technica parent Condé Nast, is the largest shareholder in Reddit.

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