Reddit opens Sydney office in a bid to boost its ads platform

Social news website and forum Reddit has opened its first office in the southern hemisphere in a bid to grow its Reddit Ads platform among Australian advertisers.

For the online network, which has more than 52 million daily active users in the world, Australians make up its fourth largest user base, contributing over 158 million posts, comments and votes on the platform every month.

Reddit said in a statement that it has already partnered with local businesses, established brand partnerships, and is working with Australian-based communities and moderators to build out its local footprint. But it didn’t confirm which brands it has made deals with.  

Located in Barangaroo, Sydney, Reddit’s new office will focus on Australian operations, with former Woolworths Group and Amazon executive David Ray acting as country manager.

Ray will be joined by community, engineering and sales staff, and the office will be managed by Reddit’s head of international Tariq Mahmoud.

The sales team will focus on helping Australian brands get involved with the platform’s audiences through advertising campaigns, scalable solutions and trends and insights offerings. 

In line with global trends, Reddit user activity is centered around popular interest groups, from gaming to crypto and entertainment.

The most popular Australian group ‘r/Australia’ is an online community of 700,000 members that’s self-described as “a dusty corner on the internet where you can chew the fat about Australia and Australians”.

Other popular groups include ‘r/AusFinance’ and ‘r/ASX_Bets’, which have a combined total of 284,600 members. 

According to Reddit, 62% of Australian Reddit users are 18 to 24 years old and they spend an average of 31 minutes per day on the platform.

Jen Wong, Reddit’s chief operating officer, said the launch of its Sydney office will help “level-up” Reddit’s local offering after a period of strong organic growth in Australia.

“This launch is just the beginning of our investment in the market and key to our wider international vision as we continue to scale Reddit at pace,” Wong said.

The opening of Reddit’s office in Barangaroo on Monday follows market entries in Canada in March this year and the United Kingdom last September.

Reddit was founded in in 2005 by American entrepreneurs Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian and Aaron Swartz. 

In 2006, the co-founders sold the platform to publishing company Condé Nast, which is owned by Advance Publications, for $10 million. In February this year, Reddit announced it had raised more than $250 million in a new round of funding that valued the company at $6 billion.