4 ms·

Reddit launches self-serve ad tool (buy a sponsored link for as little as $20)

50 points by kn0thing 17y ago

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
- jedberg 17y ago
  We still like PG and gang, we wouldn't want to crap all over them like that. ;) Edit: Since the poster deleted the comment, it said: "You should advertise Hacker News on reddit"
  - blhack 17y ago
    Are you going to get angry with me if I advertise my website (which is kindof similar to reddit) on there? I would hardly say we're "competitors" since we do about 1500 impressions a day and you do about 5 Million, but here's to hoping. :) Serious question, though, would that be disallowed in any way?
    - jedberg 17y ago
      Competition is good for everyone! We're more than happy to take your money. :)
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
cookiecaper 17y ago
This is a good idea. I expect that reddit will make a lot of money from it.
olefoo 17y ago
I like the open bid, split the pie approach. I suspect that it will go spectacularly wrong at least a few times before it converges on an optimal ruleset. But I'm glad that reddit is continuing to innovate.
jedberg 17y ago
By the way, if any of you want in on the beta, mention either YCombinator or Hacker News in your email to betaparty@reddit.com and we'll put you on the top of the beta list.
patio11 17y ago
I would be very interested in this if Reddit were chock to the brim of positive, technically disinclined females who enjoy commercial messages and spend money on software. CTRs do not make advertising successful. Conversions make advertising successful. Your users, when they're in Reddit mode, "consume" links at a prodigious rate and are primarily engaged in interaction with Reddit rather than interaction with the links. Conversions from them are, for most businesses, going to be too low to measure. On the other hand, conversions from AdWords are fairly predictable, because if you're doing it right you are guaranteed to be speaking to someone who wants what you're selling. Advertising is not a magic "pennies fall from heaven" game -- at the end of the day, somebody actually has to buy something. When you cultivate an audience of rapidly anti-commercial poor adolescents, you end up with the only remaining advertisers being the sort of autoplay flash infection vectors, because scams are the only business model that works profitably.
- jedberg 17y ago
  These are all great points. However, I just want to point out that reddit has had sponsored links for 10 months now, and our advertisers have been quite pleased with their conversion rates. We've also run some of our own ads in there, and had fantastic conversion.
- brandnewlow 17y ago
  You might not be able to sell bingo cards, but I bet you could push a lot of Neverending Story DVDs and pedobear t-shirts.
- tomjen2 17y ago
  Is something wrong with you? You are usually reasonable, intelligent and have a good point, but this - what on earth gives you the idea that only females by stuff? I pay for last.fm to give me recommendations for music that I will properly like, then I buy the best tracks in iTunes. I would do the same with tv-shows if Apple would let me (non-us, don't even get me started). I am a male CS student, so by your comment I shouldn't spend any money at all.
  - 17y ago
rick888 17y ago
It sounds like a great idea, but I've been lurking around Reddit for the last couple of years and many people there don't want to pay for anything and are anti-corporate in general. This seems like it will benefit reddit more than the people placing ads.

50 points by kn0thing 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

jedberg 17y ago
We still like PG and gang, we wouldn't want to crap all over them like that. ;) Edit: Since the poster deleted the comment, it said: "You should advertise Hacker News on reddit"
- blhack 17y ago
  Are you going to get angry with me if I advertise my website (which is kindof similar to reddit) on there? I would hardly say we're "competitors" since we do about 1500 impressions a day and you do about 5 Million, but here's to hoping. :) Serious question, though, would that be disallowed in any way?
  - jedberg 17y ago
    Competition is good for everyone! We're more than happy to take your money. :)
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]

cookiecaper 17y ago

This is a good idea. I expect that reddit will make a lot of money from it.

olefoo 17y ago

I like the open bid, split the pie approach. I suspect that it will go spectacularly wrong at least a few times before it converges on an optimal ruleset. But I'm glad that reddit is continuing to innovate.

jedberg 17y ago

By the way, if any of you want in on the beta, mention either YCombinator or Hacker News in your email to betaparty@reddit.com and we'll put you on the top of the beta list.

patio11 17y ago

I would be very interested in this if Reddit were chock to the brim of positive, technically disinclined females who enjoy commercial messages and spend money on software. CTRs do not make advertising successful. Conversions make advertising successful. Your users, when they're in Reddit mode, "consume" links at a prodigious rate and are primarily engaged in interaction with Reddit rather than interaction with the links. Conversions from them are, for most businesses, going to be too low to measure. On the other hand, conversions from AdWords are fairly predictable, because if you're doing it right you are guaranteed to be speaking to someone who wants what you're selling. Advertising is not a magic "pennies fall from heaven" game -- at the end of the day, somebody actually has to buy something. When you cultivate an audience of rapidly anti-commercial poor adolescents, you end up with the only remaining advertisers being the sort of autoplay flash infection vectors, because scams are the only business model that works profitably.

jedberg 17y ago
These are all great points. However, I just want to point out that reddit has had sponsored links for 10 months now, and our advertisers have been quite pleased with their conversion rates. We've also run some of our own ads in there, and had fantastic conversion.
brandnewlow 17y ago
You might not be able to sell bingo cards, but I bet you could push a lot of Neverending Story DVDs and pedobear t-shirts.
tomjen2 17y ago
Is something wrong with you? You are usually reasonable, intelligent and have a good point, but this - what on earth gives you the idea that only females by stuff? I pay for last.fm to give me recommendations for music that I will properly like, then I buy the best tracks in iTunes. I would do the same with tv-shows if Apple would let me (non-us, don't even get me started). I am a male CS student, so by your comment I shouldn't spend any money at all.
- 17y ago

rick888 17y ago

It sounds like a great idea, but I've been lurking around Reddit for the last couple of years and many people there don't want to pay for anything and are anti-corporate in general. This seems like it will benefit reddit more than the people placing ads.