Reddit introduces a new ad format that looks similar to posts made by users | TechCrunch

I don’t visit Reddit much anymore, but isn’t that the way ads have been for awhile over there?

Organic advertisements that look similar to user posts on reddit? How could they do such a thing?

Anyway, fellow lemmings, for no apparent reason, Today I Learned that Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated movie, "Barbie", is now available on Blu-ray and select streaming services.

In early testing of the new format, Reddit found that free-form ads outperform all other ad types in average click through rate (CTR) by 28%, along with increased community engagement when comments are enabled

so they're bragging how much more misleading the new format is, gotcha.

So if ads are just like user posts, why would companies pay for advertising when they can just have an intern, paid in "experience and exposure", make regular posts and maintain any different aliases?

This is the exact same thing Digg did when they released 4.0, which caused the huge Reddit migration almost 15 years ago.

I still use it for some of the niche communities I can't get here but I'm more than happy to drop it if these new ads somehow manage to get past uBlock

If the ads allow me to comment and say "your product sucks" then I don't mind.

How long before the new wave of reddit immigrants here lol

the platform’s most popular post types, the megathread, which is a sort of one-stop-shop for discussions about popular topics. Similar to megathreads, free-form ads are meant to help readers get the information they need quickly. The company says the new ad format would be a good way to do things like launch a product or introduce a brand to a new audience.

imagine seeing a new mega thread each time a brand releases a new flavor of deodorant or something

Pretty sure ads have to be identifiable as ads almost everywhere, against misinformation (because ads usually lie).

I cannot wait to see this Reddit IPO fail, it will be the fucking most glorious thing when fuck face spez has to face the music.

It's so annoying when your reading a comment and realize your reading an add god loved so wash feet add you are making me hate Jesus

The worst thing is when you open the sidebar. If you click too fast on a sidebar item it registers as a click on the first ad in your feed.

I report the ad as offensive every time this happens which is almost every time.

All those moderators spent all those years fighting bot spam, and now the admins are deliberately opening the floodgates for the IPO.

I wish I could say I was shocked, but this was 100% foreseeable given their behavior since the third party app fiasco.

The site has so many ad posts and shilling mods that this is basically no change at all

New? There used to be a whole sub dedicated to calling out astroturf ads on Reddit. We always got shouted down lol

"Piss on my leg once, well.. you pissed on me. Piss on my leg three times? Well.. Well.. maybe I like getting pissed on"

George Bush Jr. (probably)

Its like still being on Twitter. All the data you need is there. If you are still using these platforms, you support these kinds of polices and behaviors.

People who still are there kinda deserves it.

They have been trying SO hard lately. A featured section on After Midnight, absolutely riveting, totally 100 percent factual posts being discussed by very real unpaid people on Tiktok and Instagram.

Real glad I'm here instead.

Hot garbage site does hot garbage stuff. Reddit makes it too easy to take dumps on itself.

Edit: I misread the post to be 28% CTR, you can ignore my comment.

There's absolutely no fucking way CTR for those is 28%.

I do not believe that.

Posts don't even have a CTR that high, that would mean the average user goes no further than 4 ads before clicking one.

Now I wish I bought some stock so I could get in on a shareholder lawsuit about them cooking the books on this shit.

Edit: for context, it's 0.9% on FB, 1.9% on Google.

What's more likely, someone at reddit fucked up an analysis, or these ads are 14x better than Google or 31x better than FB?

Didn't they already have that?

Permanently Deleted

'Course they do

Earlier I was wanking for no reason, but now I get to showcase my c*m to investors - yaay

• CEO Steve F*ckman

[Caveat lector: Irish Cream-fuelled comment]

There's a sad future out there where the "Fediverse forums" thrives not because they're good, but because Reddit became so fucking bad that even your typical redditor - as in, braindead trash - left for the fediverse.

anyone have a good estimate for how long it will take for these ads to become more numerous than actual posts, at least in terms of visibility. I've got to imagine the impact is going to be spectacular since they are doing this desperate IPO as their fall from grace accelerates.

We should start a viral campaign promising to boycott anything advertised on Reddit just before the IPO

Is this something that uBO can detect?

How is this news?

So reddit is going to start selling the thing literally every company has been doing for free?

As if I didn’t have enough reasons to visit the site.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Reddit is introducing a new ad format that looks similar to posts made by users on the platform, the company announced on Thursday.

Advertisers can use the format to combine multiple media types, including image, video and text with the help of ready-made templates.

The company says the new ad format would be a good way to do things like launch a product or introduce a brand to a new audience.

“Free-form ads give advertisers the flexibility to build an ad of any length, using multiple media types, with a look and feel that’s native to the platform,” said Jim Squires, Reddit’s EVP of Business Marketing and Growth, in a blog post.

Reddit is likely seeking to add more brands to its platform and possibly convert them into paying advertisers.

The launch marked the first time that Reddit offered free tools to help businesses with their social strategy.

The original article contains 383 words, the summary contains 148 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Hasn't that been a thing since... forever? I remember it from back in the day when I started using reddit, around 2011

We're laughing over here at Lemmy.

Look, Reddit users! I have access to a frontend API. OoooooOooooo. We're partying like it's 2012 again.

What’s “reddit”?