{"id":596699,"date":"2023-01-12T05:49:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T11:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/an-awkward-space-reddits-ad-sales-efforts-havent-gone-unnoticed-but-theres-still-work-to-be-done\/"},"modified":"2023-01-12T05:49:33","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T11:49:33","slug":"an-awkward-space-reddits-ad-sales-efforts-havent-gone-unnoticed-but-theres-still-work-to-be-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/12\/an-awkward-space-reddits-ad-sales-efforts-havent-gone-unnoticed-but-theres-still-work-to-be-done\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018An awkward space\u2019: Reddit\u2019s ad sales efforts haven\u2019t gone unnoticed, but there\u2019s still work to be done"},"content":{"rendered":"

New year, same problems for Reddit: in the eyes of advertisers, it\u2019s still an outlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be clear, the social news site has definitely made strides to curry favor with advertisers since the last time Digiday checked in a year ago.<\/a> A clearer understanding of what it is and isn\u2019t among marketers is a testament to that.<\/p>\n

\n

Even so, it\u2019s arguable that Reddit must do more to turn that sentiment into ad dollars. No mean feat for a platform that\u2019s still trying to find a permanent space for itself on media plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReddit straddles an awkward space between social media, blog, forum and community interest site,\u201d said Elliott Millard, head of planning at Wavemaker U.K. \u201cWhile user numbers are pretty good, it\u2019s always lacked the scale of Facebook, the media cachet of TikTok or the singular focus of something like Pinterest. The breadth is an issue because clients can\u2019t put it in a neat box.\u201d<\/p>\n

Take the U.K., for example. While Reddit has certainly evolved since its U.K. expansion back in 2020, and marketers appear to be happy with the moves it\u2019s making, there\u2019s still a lot of work to be done.<\/p>\n

Pitching to marketers<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Steve Riad, vp, global mid-market & smb sales at Reddit, the platform has some strong relationships, and in most instances, official partnerships with all the major holding companies, globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2022, we announced a global enterprise partnership with IPG, and our global commerce advertising advisory partnership with WPP, the latter being led specifically out of London,\u201d he explained. \u201cAdditionally, our internal deal labs team is responsible for structuring our annual partnership agreements with our agencies, or we can do that with client direct programs through our Reddit Partnership Program (RPP), which continues to expand in the U.K. with the likes of Samsung U.K., and Huel.\u201d<\/p>\n

While these partnerships seem impressive, what exactly do they mean?<\/p>\n

In certain circumstances, Reddit has offered some of Dentsu\u2019s clients introductory ad credits for new brands keen to ease their way into advertising on the platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Similarly, Paul Kasamias, managing partner (performance) at Starcom noted that Reddit provides the agency\u2019s highest spending clients on the platform first refusal for new ad formats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re definitely proactive in bringing the alphas and betas to clients, which is a nice sell because\u00a0clients love being at the forefront of innovation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Reddit has also helped Starcom through its creative services arm called Karma Lab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReddit runs workshops, provides insights and trends, as well as access to measurement studies, for us and our clients about how best to use creative and ad formats on the platform, to ensure they are specifically fit for Reddit and that user base,\u201d Kasamias added. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely incentivizing clients in the right way, not just discounting ad spend but actually giving clients a deeper, more meaningful, experience of using the platform, which is smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do marketers want from Reddit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Reddit launched in the U.K., the consensus among advertisers at the time was that it was more a test and learn platform, according to Reddit\u2019s Riad. Since then, Reddit has shifted the narrative and become a key part of media plans for marketers, he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Granted, those gains tend to be among a specific sub set of advertisers \u2014 namely those keen on Reddit\u2019s strong, yet niche verticals such as consumer, gaming and tech. For other advertisers there are still some lingering issues they need Reddit to address.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Catherine Chappell, head of biddable media at Mediahub believes some of the platform\u2019s creative capabilities have been slower than other platforms and need to catch up with the market. An example being, Reddit was one of the last to launch video. \u201cThat only came into fruition about 18 months ago, where it was static previously,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Neil Weaver, paid social partner at Dentsu, highlighted that Reddit should focus on innovation if it wants to solidify its market share of dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cA drawback of Reddit is the visual feel of the platform,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, there\u2019s certain verticals where Reddit won\u2019t appeal, such as fashion, because there are far more visual platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat. Reddit would do well to lean on its strengths rather than trying to appeal to the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Chappell noted that as far as commercial opportunities are concerned, Mediahub hasn\u2019t seen much from Reddit. That said, she is hopeful that will kickstart this year and a healthy relationship with the platform can ensue.<\/p>\n

Bigger picture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Reddit\u2019s attempts to grow its ads business come at a time when marketers are understandably scrutinizing which platforms to use and how many dollars to spend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Facebook to Snapchat, Google to Twitter, the big media platforms that dominate online advertising are dealing with a cacophony of forces, some structural, others economical, that are threatening that dominance. Which is to say that advertisers are weighing up where they push and pull money across these platforms. Now is as good a time as any for any platform with designs on being an alternative to these stalwarts to make a move \u2014 a thought not lost on the ad execs at Reddit it seems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While other platforms each have their own problems to contend with, Chappell pointed out that Reddit\u2019s offering, which marketers are seemingly impressed by, continues to fly under the radar.<\/p>\n

Reddit is very eager to help compared to other media owners, in terms of providing insights and responses to briefs that are actually detailed and workable, she explained. \u201cThat helps in positioning it with both planners and brands, because there\u2019s homework behind the rationale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the platform\u2019s willingness to have a two-way dialogue to support its advertiser clients, perhaps this isn\u2019t something to overlook, and might be the USP that sets Reddit apart from the pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Krystal Scanlon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New year, same problems for Reddit: in the eyes of advertisers, it\u2019s still an outlier.\u00a0To be clear, the social news site has definitely made strides to curry favor with advertisers since the last time Digiday checked in a year ago. A clearer understanding of what it is and isn\u2019t among marketers is a testament to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36897,2690,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-596699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-an","8":"category-awkward","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}