As it continues to expand its business operations, in order to capitalize on its growing user base, Reddit has announced that it’s opening a new local office in Australia, which is now home to the platform’s fourth-largest regional audience.

As explained by Reddit:

“Our new Australian team launches with dedicated, locally-based Community, Engineering and Sales staff, as well as Country Manager, David Ray, who will join us in the coming weeks. The Australian business is managed by Reddit’s Head of International, Tariq Mahmoud, and is already partnering with local entities, working with Australian-based moderators and communities, and establishing local brand partnerships.”

The Australian expansion is the latest in the company’s evolving growth strategy, which has also seen it open offices in Canada and the UK over the past 9 months.

Reddit says that its Australian audience has grown by 40% year-over-year, with the average Aussie user now spending some 31 minutes per day in the app, which Reddit claims is a higher average session time rate than Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest.

“[Australian Redditors] collectively contribute 158 million posts, comments and votes on the platform every month. 62% of our Australian users sit in the highly desirable 18 – 34 year old segment, with 28% aged between 35 – 49.”

Reddit says that key topics of interest among Australian users are gaming, cryptocurrency and entertainment, while the r/australia subreddit, where users share local news and discussion, is now up to 700,000 members.

And much like the US, where r/wallstreetbets has taken on a life of its own in the investor community, market-focused subs like r/ausfinance and r/asx_bets are also on the rise, along with sports discussion.

“Local takes on leading global communities are also popular among Australian Reddit users, with r/askanaustralian, r/australianteachers and r/ausproperty among the fastest growing communities for Australian users in 2021.”

The new Australian office, based in Sydney, will be focused on building connections with local advertisers, and showcasing the potential of Reddit’s communities, which can now be reached via the platform’s evolving array of ad offerings and tools.

Reddit’s gradually winning over more advertisers, and building its ad business. While it’s always been a popular platform among users, the free speech focus of the app, at least in its early days, has imbued a level of hesitation with some marketers, due to concerns about unwanted content associations and generally negative reception to promotions in the app.

But that is changing. Back in December, Reddit reported that its ad revenue exceeded $100 million for the first time in 2019, and was on track to increase by more than 70% in 2020. The company has also made significant strides in improving its content moderation and platform rules, with the biggest shift on this front resulting in the removal of thousands of subreddits in June last year, as a result of its updated approach to hate speech.

That’s expelled many of the more controversial elements out of its system – but still, there are some more questionable corners of the Reddit eco-sphere that would make even the most liberal-minded users consider deleting their browser history. 

But its ad system is improving, and Reddit’s working to provide more specific targeting, and exclusion tools to address these concerns.  

And Reddit’s communities, as the data here shows, do see high levels of interaction and engagement. And within that, there’s significant opportunity to connect with relevant audiences that will be interested in your products, while there’s also great market research potential, which can be of major value for your planning.

Really, ignoring Reddit entirely should not be an option, it’s simply too valuable to dismiss. And with the right understanding and approach, it could also become a key focus for your promotion and outreach efforts.

Socialmediatoday.com

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