Reddit to test login-only mode after search referral drop

By Marcus Bennett

Reddit will test a logged-in-only experience in Q4 in select markets outside the United States, Steve Huffman told investors Thursday on its Q3 earnings call. The CEO and co-founder called it the first step toward matching how, in his view, every other social platform operates.

Logged-in users already account for more than 80% of Reddit’s monetization, giving the company a sizable base for the change. Huffman said sign-ins would strengthen ad targeting and first-party data collection (information gathered directly from users).

He also cited protection from artificial intelligence (AI) crawlers and firmer footing for global regulation, including age-verification rules. The announcement offers no quantified reach, pricing, or budget effects.

What does the login test change for practitioners?

For advertisers, stronger audience targeting through first-party signals is the stated benefit. Reddit offered no budget or pricing guidance, so buyers should not assume immediate cost changes.

For creators and publishers in tested markets, anonymous discovery is the immediate reach risk because a login wall removes it. Huffman did not quantify effects on post reach, impressions, or engagement.

How much did Google search referrals fall?

Reddit’s search traffic dropped by 1 million referrals per week in October, Huffman said. He attributed the internet-wide decline largely to AI search, calling Google a major culprit as it pushes users toward AI Overviews and Gemini.

He said this year’s Google algorithm changes appeared to downrank machine-translated content. That undermined Reddit’s translation-led international expansion, where the brand is less established than the US and growth potential is greatest.

The disclosure does not isolate Google’s share of the loss. In the US, Reddit still ranks among Google’s most-searched terms, he said, which he read as unchanged demand. “Google is crawling us as hard as ever,” he added, saying Google’s AI demand for Reddit content had not changed.

Yet Huffman said, “The reality is, AI Mode does not drive traffic, not for us and not for anybody, as far as I know.” He described Google’s change as fundamental: the company used to drive traffic, but now does not.

Can direct app visits replace search referrals?

Reddit is prioritizing logged-in daily habits and app downloads. The share of new app users returning in their first week rose by double digits in Q3 from Q2 and 50% year over year.

Huffman argued Google’s reduced referrals are training searchers to visit Reddit directly. That supports the app strategy, but the retention figures do not show how many retained users become monetizable.

Is advertising still growing?

Yes. Q3 revenue climbed 53% year over year. Ad revenue rose 54% to $847 million, which COO Jen Wong attributed to growth in both impressions and pricing.

Reddit joined the S&P 500 in Q3, which Huffman linked to strong growth since going public in 2024. It has passed $3 billion in trailing-12-month revenue and targets $5 billion annually.

What changed in Reddit’s ad stack?

• Q3 click volume grew 50% year over year, conversion volume tripled, and lower-funnel performance revenue from shopping and app-install campaigns grew more than 95%.
• Reddit Max, its machine-learning ad optimization platform, entered public beta in Q3. Advertisers can manage multiple product lines or creative themes in one campaign.
• Mid-market advertiser adoption grew 50% year over year. Video-based campaign revenue from upper-funnel advertisers, those earlier in the customer journey, doubled in Q3. A 15-second engaged-video-view objective entered public beta to target people likely to engage with longer-form video.
• The shopping campaign platform now supports up to 20 million products. Business-to-business in-market audience targeting tools improved average cost per action (CPA) by 7% compared with other first-party targeting options.
• Revenue from advertisers using Reddit’s application programming interface (API) rose 45% compared with Q2. Smartly became the first third-party integration for managing Max campaigns.
• Reddit cited measurement integrations with Innovid and Skai, announced in August, plus a HubSpot beta. Its Shopify integration for lower-funnel campaigns reached general availability in May.
• Ethnotek, a backpack and accessories brand, reported a 4x improvement in return on ad spend (ROAS) and a 40% improvement in CPA after testing that integration.

Together, those ad-stack improvements contributed to a 36% increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) to $6.87. Reddit’s next test is whether a larger logged-in base can push ARPU higher.