The redesign was quite obviously introduced for the express purpose of monetization. In the old UI, ads can only take up so much space. The 3rd link down from t

The redesign was quite obviously introduced for the express purpose of monetization. In the old UI, ads can only take up so much space. The 3rd link down from the list (which is typically the link where promoted content is placed) in old.reddit takes up perhaps 7% of total available screen space. In the new UI, users are forced to look at full screen advertisements, which advertisers are willing to pay a lot more $$ for.