Reddit is making a big change in how people will access the site. Reddit will require logins for most content. The goal is to prevent AI companies from scraping data off of Reddit.
Mandatory logins aim to curb AI data harvesting while driving higher ad revenue
This move is also a step to increasing revenue for the company. For people who find posts on Reddit via search engines, they'll have to make an account or login.
Reddit had a good quarter financially. Q3 2024 saw global daily active users remain the same at 130.3 million. The company had a 2 percent drop in US daily active users to 50.7 million.
Revenue increased by 53 percent to $895 million. This exceeded analyst's expectations.
Net income increased by 74 percent to $283 million. The company saw a 54 percent increase in ad revenue to $847 million. Revenue per US user increased by 53 percent to $13.82.
Revenue per global user increased by 36 percent to $6.87. This means more revenue is being generated from each active user.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman explains that the move protects the platform and the business. The CEO mentions that this is a big deal for him. He is known for the open internet.
Reddit will try requiring a login in non-US markets for Q4. However, they don't have a global timeline for the rollout of this yet.
The revenue per user jump to 13.82 in the US is staggering. It feels like the open internet era is officially closing for most of us.
guess search engines will just stop indexing reddit then. 🤔
Does the Q4 test in non-US markets mean we get no warning before the global rollout? The article says there is no global timeline yet.
It implies a phased approach. They are likely using the non-US test to refine the friction and ad load before applying it everywhere. Expect a push for Q1 next year.
Q3 global DAU stayed flat while US dropped. This login wall is just a desperate move to squeeze more cash from the remaining 50 million.
iirc this will kill third party apps entirely. no api access means no mobile clients that dont use the official app. what a shame. 🔥