Social network Reddit could monetize by tucking some subreddits behind paywalls, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman suggested during the company’s Tuesday earnings call (via Engadget).
Huffman said that Reddit plans to “unlock the door” for subreddits that could have “exclusive content or private areas.”
I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has. But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.
Huffman did not outright confirm that Reddit is going to charge for access to subreddits in the future, but that seems to be what he was hinting at.
Reddit also plans to test AI-powered search results later in 2024, with AI used to summarize and recommend content. Huffman said that the search tools would help “users dive deeper into products, shows, games and discover new communities on Reddit.” Huffman believes that search could be a major source of advertising revenue going forward.
Reddit has already established deals with Google and OpenAI to allow the companies to train their AI models using Reddit content, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT is now able to surface Reddit conversations in ChatGPT. Reddit attempted to reach a deal with Microsoft, but failed to do so, and later blocked Bing from accessing Reddit content.
Last year, Reddit started charging developers for accessing its API, which led to the shutdown of several popular Reddit clients, including Apollo. Apollo developer Christian Selig said that he would need to pay $20 million per year in fees to keep the app up and running, which was not feasible, and Reddit was not willing to work with him or provide a reasonable timeline to make changes.
Reddit began charging for API access ahead of when it became a public company in March 2024, and it continues to seek new ways to monetize content from its user base.
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