Reddit is planning to introduce a paywall this year, CEO Steve Huffman said during a videotaped Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Thursday.
Huffman previously showed interest in potentially introducing a new type of subreddit with “exclusive content or private areas” that Reddit users would pay to access.
When asked this week about plans for some Redditors to create “content that only paid members can see,” Huffman said:
It’s a work in progress right now, so that one’s coming… We’re working on it as we speak.
When asked about “new, key features that you plan to roll out for Reddit in 2025,” Huffman responded, in part: “Paid subreddits, yes.”
Reddit’s paywall would ostensibly only apply to certain new subreddit types, not any subreddits currently available.
Reddit executives also discussed how they might introduce more ads into the social media platform. The push for ads follows changes to Reddit’s API policy that, in part, led to the closing of most third-party apps used for accessing Reddit. Reddit makes most of its revenue from ads and can only show ads on its native apps and website.
Reddit started testing ads in comments last year, with COO Jen Wong saying during an AMA that such ads are in “about 3 percent of inventory.” The executive hinted at that percentage growing. Wong also shared hopes that contextual advertising, or ads being shown based on the content surrounding them, will be a “bigger part of” Reddit’s business by 2026.
Netflix was always a paid service though. I don’t know if people will want to pay for something they’ve had for free for over a decade, especially if the free subreddits will still exist.
I’d also imagine that for any paid subreddit, someone will make a free version with similar content.
Oh I’m sure that for one reason or another many of these free subreddits will end up migrating. Feature/moderator tool stagnation, potential payment or rev share models, plain old BS reasons to close existing subs.
Whatever the excuse, their next move will be to shift big subreddits over, maybe starting with popular but more niche subs, then pivoting from there.
Anything that is niche, dominating in terms of Internet presence for that interest, and potentially tied to folks who have more disposable income.