The website will also be testing AI-powered search later this year.
Reddit co-founder and CEO, Steve Huffman, hinted at new types of subreddits that will be behind a paywall in the company’s latest earnings call. These new private subreddits will be an additional source of income for the social media platform. Here’s what we know so far.
Will Reddit have a Paywall?
Reddit has been around for a long time and has a large user base. The website has continued without any drastic changes but it seems it is heading towards some significant updates.
Reddit has several communities that exist within categories called subreddits. Subscribers of these subreddits will see content related to a particular topic. There are often volunteer moderators who ensure the subreddit follows the global Reddit rules and can also impose certain rules of their own. However, most of these subreddits are Public subreddits. Reddit now plans on creating exclusive subreddits or private subreddits that may be locked behind a paywall.
I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”
This does not mean that the free nature of Reddit will disappear. Instead, the new types of subreddits will be in addition to the existing model where most subreddits are free to join.
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AI-Powered Search Coming soon
Later this year, we will begin testing new search result pages powered by AI to summarize and recommend content, helping users dive deeper into products, shows, games and discover new communities on Reddit.
In the earnings call, Steve Huffman told shareholders that AI could be a big source of revenue in the future. He also hinted at new types of subreddits that may not be free. These subreddits would host exclusive content or act as private areas - something users would not mind paying a bit extra for the exclusive areas.
Earlier this year, Reddit went public with a $6.5 billion IPO valuation. The valuation follows a deal with Google that allowed the Mountain View tech giant to access real-time data from Reddit. The deal, is valued at $60 million per year and Reddit plans to further sell shares to raise another $519 million.
With the company set to test AI-powered search later this year and the potential for an additional source of income via the private and exclusive servers, it will be Reddit might see a significant uptick in its revenues. Despite being around for a very long time, Reddit saw a massive surge in its userbase following the COVID-19 outbreak.
With a massive userbase, Reddit clearly values the company’s data. It has struck exclusive deals with Google, OpenAI and also blocked access to other search engines that do not have deals with the company.
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