Insights

February 18, 2025

Reddit, once considered a niche forum, is now a critical platform for shaping reputation, surfacing information in search, and synthesizing human perspective within AI systems. It influences everything from product decisions to public perception during high-profile moments to what appears in AI-generated answers. For communicators and brand leaders, that shift is too significant to be ignored.

ICYMI: Our last newsletter explored the current state of corporate activism amid escalating political tension and scrutiny. Read it here.

Reddit meets the moment

Founders and college roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian built Reddit to be the “front page of the internet.” Two decades later, that vision is coming to fruition.

Two forces have propelled the platform into this moment.

1. Audiences are weary of feeds shaped by algorithms and flooded with AI-generated content. They’re hungry for real community and connection. “We give people this core human need to feel like they can belong to something,” former Reddit CMO Roxy Young toldBusiness Insider in 2025. “At the core of Reddit is authentic human conversations.”
2. AI is reshaping how information is retrieved and summarized, increasing the value of first-person discussion as source material.

Reddit sits at the intersection of both shifts: a pseudonymous network of communities whose conversations shape not just culture, but discovery. Brands (which once avoided Reddit due to its reputation as “fringe”) are taking note and actively engaging with the platform.

A quick breakdown

• Reddit is organized into subreddits that are distinct communities with their own cultures, rules, and volunteer moderators who enforce them.
• There are more than 100,000 active subreddits, ranging from broad topics like r/funny, with more than 6 million weekly visitors, to highly niche forums dedicated to specific professions, hobbies, health conditions, geographic regions, and the obscure.
• Redditors can choose to autogenerate their usernames, and the platform does not require them to display real names publicly. This allows people to be candid in a way they wouldn’t be on platforms tied to real-world identity, such as LinkedIn.
• Users “upvote” content they find valuable and “downvote” what feels spammy or irrelevant, determining what rises to the top.
• Upvotes earn users “karma,” a visible reputation score that signals credibility and, in some communities, is required before posting or commenting.

Even if you’re not using Reddit, you’re using Reddit

• Google almost anything and a Reddit thread will likely be among the first results beneath the AI Overview. This is thanks to a $60 million annual deal between the two companies that allows Google to train its AI models on Reddit posts.
• Reddit has also partnered with OpenAI in a deal reportedly worth $70 million yearly.

By the numbers: Data from analytics firm Profound indicates that from August 2024 through June 2025, Reddit ranked as the most frequently cited domain in Google AI Overviews (21%) and Perplexity (46.7%) responses, and the second most cited source in ChatGPT (11.3%).

• According to its 2025 annual report, Reddit reaches 121.4 million daily active users, up 19% year over year. Revenue grew 69% in 2025 to $2.2 billion, with ad revenue rising 74%.

Why it matters: For communicators, the implication is clear. Reddit increasingly shapes what audiences see, trust, and act on.

• “The conversations on Reddit are driving people’s decision-making, and that’s why it’s an important place for brands and marketers to be,” Young said.

To unpack what this means in practice, Global Gateway Advisors spoke with Grace Close, a product marketing manager at Reddit, about how companies should approach the platform today.

As Close explained, brands cannot simply enter a conversation and talk about themselves. On Reddit, they need to listen first and understand the community before engaging.

What makes a conversation influential

Reddit’s research into which conversations resonate most strongly within communities and are more likely to surface in search and AI-generated answers points to a few consistent patterns:

• Start in the right place. Every issue or industry has its own home, sometimes several, on Reddit. The first step is identifying which communities matter for your organization and engaging there.
• Helpfulness > promotion. Reddit is centered around real questions and thoughtful answers. Brands earn credibility and trust when they solve a problem or clarify confusion.
• Allow for nuance. Influential discussions include a mix of perspectives, both positive and critical. Communities reward honesty and transparency over polished messaging.
• Human-first language. Posts and comments that read how people naturally speak are more likely to be picked up by LLMs.

Organic vs. paid: How brands engage

Reddit isn’t one-size-fits-all. Brands can participate organically inside communities or use paid tools to expand reach, but either way the platform rewards participation, not promotion.

Organic: When brands do engage, it works best when it’s grounded in real expertise. That might mean responding to questions, clarifying a point of confusion, or hosting an AMA (ask me anything) led by a credible subject matter expert.

In action:

• Duolingo’s VP of engineering fielded questions about product development, language teaching, monetization, and growth.
• Endo, a pharmaceutical company that has since merged with Mallinckrodt, invited users to ask questions of a Xiaflex patient and a physician specializing in hand conditions.
• An engineering manager at Spotify discussed a new feature.

Paid: Brands can target specific subreddits, use keyword targeting to appear alongside relevant discussions, and place ads directly within conversation feeds. They can also amplify AMAs or expert discussions to extend reach beyond a single community.

• Unlike traditional display ads, these placements sit inside active conversations, boosting visibility in a natural, relevant context.

Yes, but: The playbook you use for Google or Facebook ads likely won’t work on Reddit. Users are notoriously skeptical and quick to call out anything that feels inauthentic. If your strategy misses the mark, it can quickly attract critical comments and shift the conversation in a negative direction.

We’re advising our clients on how to monitor Reddit conversations and determine when engagement makes strategic sense. If your organization is exploring similar questions, we welcome the opportunity to connect.

Key upcoming events

Enterprise Leadership

• WSJ CFO Council Summit(Palo Alto, March 23-24) A forum for senior finance leaders navigating volatile markets, shifting trade policy, and the early impact of AI on the workforce, featuring conversations on capital allocation, regulatory uncertainty, and how AI is beginning to reshape the modern enterprise.
• WSJ CPO Council Summit (Palo Alto, March 25-26) A gathering of top Chief People Officers examining how AI is reshaping the workforce, from talent strategy and hiring to organizational resilience and large-scale change management. The program features expert speakers, peer discussions, and curated experiences designed to help leaders prepare for a future in which work is increasingly driven by AI.

AI + Policy

• Axios AI+DC (Washington, D.C., March 25) This half-day event focused on the future of AI, featuring conversations with leading innovators and business leaders on the next phase of AI transformation and its global impact.

Cybersecurity

• RSAC Conference (San Francisco, March 23-26) Join industry leaders, government officials, and security experts at one of the world’s largest cybersecurity gatherings to examine emerging threats, innovation, and digital resilience. Speakers include Rob Lee, CEO and Founder of Dragos, Inc.; Mea Clift, Principal Executive Advisor for Cyber Risk Engineering at Liberty Mutual; and Abhijith B R, Founder and Director of Offensive Security at Adversary Village and BreachSimRange.

Health + Life Sciences

• ViVE (Los Angeles, Feb. 22-25) Co-created by HLTH and CHIME, ViVE brings together health system, payer, and technology leaders to examine how digital tools, data, and emerging innovations are reshaping the business of healthcare. Participants include Tom Mihaljevic, MD, CEO and President of the Cleveland Clinic; Mary Varghese Presti, CVP and Chief Operating Officer for Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft; and Sarah London, CEO of Centene Corporation.
• CNBC Cures Summit (New York City/Virtual, March 3) The inaugural CNBC Cures Summit, convening leading investors, policymakers, and biotechnology executives to accelerate progress in rare disease research and the future of medicine. Speakers include Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI; Leonard S. Schleifer, MD, PhD, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Regeneron; and Boomer Esiason, broadcaster and rare disease advocate.
• HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition (Las Vegas, March 9-12) Join global health and tech leaders to explore how AI, data and new delivery models are transforming care, with hundreds of sessions and stakeholders from across the healthcare ecosystem.

Bookmark Global Gateway Advisors’ event tracker, updated weekly.

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Media news

• Anderson Cooper leaving CBS. After nearly two decades, Cooper is stepping away from the network. He will remain at CNN, where he renewed his contract this past December. His exit is the latest shakeup at CBS amid continued restructuring under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
• A skeletal Washington Post. After cutting more than 300 staffers, eliminating its sports desk and significantly reducing its foreign desk — including laying off the Ukraine bureau chief and the entire Middle East team — the outlet has increasingly relied on wire stories. It was also forced to issue a correction after describing the South Caucasus — a region comprising the sovereign nations of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia — as part of Russia.
• Making AI Work. This new seven-part newsletter from MIT Technology Review explores how to apply large language models across industries, offering practical, sector-specific guidance.
• Bloomberg expands to seven-day coverage. Beginning Feb. 28, the network will launch “Bloomberg This Weekend,” extending its live business and global news programming across Saturdays and Sundays. The show will be hosted by David Gura, Christina Ruffini, and Lisa Mateo. In other news, the company reported 6% revenue growth in 2025.
• CBS News staffers “jumping ship.” Roughly a quarter of eligible “CBS Evening News” staffers — including six of 20 producers — have accepted voluntary buyouts ahead of expected layoffs under editor in chief Bari Weiss.
• Axios partners with OpenAI to champion local news. The collaboration will help Axios expand into nine new local communities at a time when nearly 40% of U.S. local newspapers have closed over the past two decades. Reporters will use OpenAI tools to streamline workflows and surface local trends, freeing up more time for original reporting, and will participate in OpenAI Academy training to support responsible AI use.

Media moves

• Laura Bratton (formerly Yahoo Finance) will now be covering AI applications and all things enterprise software for The Information, as well as writing the Applied AI.
• Longtime Bloomberg reporter Josyana Joshua is joining the money team (formerly known as the personal finance team).
• Joanna Stern (previously The Wall Street Journal) is starting her own consumer tech media company.
• WIRED’s Kate Knibbs will now be covering prediction markets.
• Madison Mills will now be covering artificial intelligence for Axios, and co-authoring its AI+ newsletter.
• Taylor Telford, a corporate culture reporter; Danielle Abril, who covered technology and work; Evelyn Larrubia, the business and technology investigations senior editor; Chris Velazco, personal technology reporter; and Sarah Ellison, who reported on the media industry, were among the 300+ employees laid off by The Washington Post.
• The Financial Times hired Patrick Foulis(formerly The Economist) as a contributing editor.
• Dai Wakabayashi was named Asia editor for the biz news desk at The New York Times.