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Reddit is just not sustainable on $8M per year in ad revenue. Urgent changes are required. Sponsored AMAs are the first of many possible monetization strategie

Reddit is just not sustainable on $8M per year in ad revenue. Urgent changes are required. Sponsored AMAs are the first of many possible monetization strategies to take Reddit to $100M per year, which in turn increase the value of employee equity. AMAs are ridiculously undervalued when looking at the quality of celebs and their monthly unique visitors. If Reddit's own internal culture is indeed blocking the evolution of Reddit as a media property, then Ellen is simply making the tough, fiscally responsible decisions. Snoop Dogg, a Reddit investor, didn't become a $135M franchise by undervaluing his content and services. Reddit shouldn't either.

adevine 11y ago
Totally disagree on this one, and I see in this sentiment the same thing that brought down Digg. "If Reddit's own internal culture is indeed blocking the evolution of Reddit as a media property, then Ellen is simply making the tough, fiscally responsible decisions." I call major BS, because reddit is NOTHING without its "internal culture". Anything that has a whiff of promotion or spam on reddit will kill it, at least if it's done in a way that doesn't respect its user base. For example, it was rumored that Victoria Taylor was against video AMAs for the reason that it would turn them into light puff pieces, instead of the insightful, humorous, and sometimes hard-hitting interactions that the best AMAs are.
- matchagaucho 11y ago
  Promotions can be done natively while preserving "culture". If J.J. Abrams does an AMA to promote Star Wars this December, does anyone really care that Disney paid $200K to show an exclusive movie trailer to Reddit fans? If even 1% of Reddit users take that video viral, it'd add millions to the opening weekend box office numbers. [edit: nevermind measurable viral outcomes. The core question remains, can Reddit can maintain it's culture with native ads/sponsorship?].
  - adevine 11y ago
    This makes no sense. Why would Disney pay any money at all to show an exclusive trailer to Reddit fans, when they could just release it for free elsewhere and have it go viral all by itself? Because that is exactly what happened.
iaw 11y ago
The challenge you face with your analogy to Snoop Dogg is that Snoop isn't dependent upon his fans (analogous to user base) to produce his music, only to consume. What value does Reddit provide as a server by offering a forum where users volunteer to create, rank, and moderate their content for them? What about that value isn't dependent on the community that creates content? What about Reddit prevents voat or frizbee from acquiring its community?
- matchagaucho 11y ago
  True, the content creator/consumer relationship is not a perfect analogy. The secret sauce to Reddit is a formula comprised of anonymous identity, freedom of speech, user generated content, witty humor, cat pictures, atheism, technologists, reward systems (gold, up vote) and transparent communication.... all baked in a social oven for 10 years. In turns out, that all those social network qualities happen to represent a significant population of the real-world; and everyone, from politicians to celebrities, are acknowledging that fact. Without knowing the specifics of voat or frizbee, I just don't see another community coming along that can replicate this formula in the short-term. Reddit is actually in a good position to introduce healthy dialogues that involve brands, UGC producers, and consumers.
albinofrenchy 11y ago
> Sponsored AMAs are the first of many possible monetization strategies to take Reddit to $100M per year, which in turn increase the value of employee equity. There are a thousand different ways marketing people can shove celebrities down peoples throats. If you turn AMAs into exactly that, you wont get $100M a year; you'll just ruin something kinda novel.

adevine 11y ago

Totally disagree on this one, and I see in this sentiment the same thing that brought down Digg. "If Reddit's own internal culture is indeed blocking the evolution of Reddit as a media property, then Ellen is simply making the tough, fiscally responsible decisions." I call major BS, because reddit is NOTHING without its "internal culture". Anything that has a whiff of promotion or spam on reddit will kill it, at least if it's done in a way that doesn't respect its user base. For example, it was rumored that Victoria Taylor was against video AMAs for the reason that it would turn them into light puff pieces, instead of the insightful, humorous, and sometimes hard-hitting interactions that the best AMAs are.

matchagaucho 11y ago
Promotions can be done natively while preserving "culture". If J.J. Abrams does an AMA to promote Star Wars this December, does anyone really care that Disney paid $200K to show an exclusive movie trailer to Reddit fans? If even 1% of Reddit users take that video viral, it'd add millions to the opening weekend box office numbers. [edit: nevermind measurable viral outcomes. The core question remains, can Reddit can maintain it's culture with native ads/sponsorship?].
- adevine 11y ago
  This makes no sense. Why would Disney pay any money at all to show an exclusive trailer to Reddit fans, when they could just release it for free elsewhere and have it go viral all by itself? Because that is exactly what happened.

iaw 11y ago

The challenge you face with your analogy to Snoop Dogg is that Snoop isn't dependent upon his fans (analogous to user base) to produce his music, only to consume. What value does Reddit provide as a server by offering a forum where users volunteer to create, rank, and moderate their content for them? What about that value isn't dependent on the community that creates content? What about Reddit prevents voat or frizbee from acquiring its community?

matchagaucho 11y ago
True, the content creator/consumer relationship is not a perfect analogy. The secret sauce to Reddit is a formula comprised of anonymous identity, freedom of speech, user generated content, witty humor, cat pictures, atheism, technologists, reward systems (gold, up vote) and transparent communication.... all baked in a social oven for 10 years. In turns out, that all those social network qualities happen to represent a significant population of the real-world; and everyone, from politicians to celebrities, are acknowledging that fact. Without knowing the specifics of voat or frizbee, I just don't see another community coming along that can replicate this formula in the short-term. Reddit is actually in a good position to introduce healthy dialogues that involve brands, UGC producers, and consumers.

albinofrenchy 11y ago

> Sponsored AMAs are the first of many possible monetization strategies to take Reddit to $100M per year, which in turn increase the value of employee equity. There are a thousand different ways marketing people can shove celebrities down peoples throats. If you turn AMAs into exactly that, you wont get $100M a year; you'll just ruin something kinda novel.