Media Buying Briefing: Reddit expands outreach to independent agencies as its ad revenue rises

By Michael Bürgi

Popular but under-the-radar social platform Reddit (that is, compared to the Instagrams and TikToks of the world) is making yet another push to woo advertisers — smartly by going through their media agencies.

Having reached partnership agreements with all the major holding companies, the current push is to bring more independent media agencies into the fold as well. This all comes as Reddit works to make its ad offerings more sophisticated and level with its social competition — one of which, Twitter, is struggling to keep its ad revenue robust.

Reddit last week announced partnerships with Horizon Media, PMG and Wpromote, as well as the expansion of an existing partnership with performance specialist Tinuiti from a year ago. According to Reddit, Tinuiti tripled its clients’ ad spend on the platform over the last year. Among its clients are e.l.f. cosmetics, Unilever Health & Wellbeing Collective and Pacsun.

Specifically, the media agencies will have the option to take advantage of advertiser incentives, get early access to new ad product tests as well as enhanced measurement tools. They will also have better access to KarmaLab, Reddit’s in-house creative agency to help build campaigns for disruptor and challenger brands.

“We’re laser focused on both growing and diversifying our advertising base,” said Evan Wolf, Reddit’s head of mid-market and SMB sales, North America. “These independent agencies are cutting-edge: they’re nimble, they’re future-looking, they’re innovative and they work with some of the coolest and best brands in the world.”

“The marriage of bespoke insights and continued ad experience enhancements can come together to bring to life a more full-funnel experience on the platform,” said Carly Carson, head of integrated media at PMG, who noted the agency is using its Alli marketing intelligence platform to deepen API integrations with Reddit.

“Today, I think the capabilities are almost to par with the rest of the platforms in our industry,” said Avi Ben-Zvi, vp of paid social with Tinuiti. “There are a couple of things that they’re still rolling out here and there, but it’s changed really fast.” Ben-Zvi noted in particular reserve buys with takeovers, compelling video units, carousels along with newer dynamic product ads.

Reddit’s Wolf pointed to Tinuiti client e.l.f. cosmetics, which found that going past obvious channels on the platform such as r/beauty yielded better results. “They’re finding customers in places like r/girlgamers, which is actually very relevant when you unpack insights into how people use the platform,” he said. “Our ability to show and share those insights with advertisers is helping them find and grow their customer base. And that’s the type of work that doesn’t end when the campaign ends.”

“it’s now getting to the level where it’s comparable” with other social platforms given its longevity in the social space, added Ben-Zvi. “The question is now, can we scale that capability? And can we measure properly to prove out that impact as well?”

Darren D’Altorio, vp of paid social at Wpromote, said his agency is getting three levels of value from the partnership: education, …read more

Source:: Digiday