Reddit users will be seeing a change on the horizon. The CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, announced that they are about to change how advsertisers on the popular website, are handled. Reddit will now support, in addition to the current subreddit ad targeting that is in place, interest targeting based advertisements. CEO Huffman says that the ads will target “audiences based on a handful of predefined interests (e.g., sports, gaming, music and more) which will be informed by which communities they frequent.” This new strategy can turn out to be a win-win, giving the user a better experience by seeing ads that are more relevant, and also giving the advertisers better tools to target the right audience for its products.
Huffman understands that the users of Reddit are predominately against ads, so Reddit will allow its users to opt out of the new advertising product. Those who do opt out will be missing out on seeing ads that would be more in line with their interests, which as stated earlier, is aimed at improving user experience.
Whether or not the Reddit community is willing to accept these changes is yet to be seen, however it is unlikely that every single user will opt-out of the new advertising product. As long as the user experience doesn’t suffer and users are able to perceive some value to the change, it is likely that this change will be a positive move for not only the users and advertisers, but for Reddit as well.
