Reddit Scores Major Deal with Pro Sports Leagues for Highlight Sharing
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3 Sources
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Reddit's NFL, NBA deals bring more sports highlights -- and ads
Reddit has struck deals with major sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, and the MLB, as the company looks to boost revenue following its move to go public. Through the program, Reddit will show more game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, and ask-me-anything (AMA) sessions with players. In exchange, advertisers on Reddit, such as Samsung, Ford, Volkswagen, and FanDuel, can show ads alongside video content posted by the leagues. Reddit will then share the revenue it gets from advertisers with the participating sports leagues, according to The Information. In the example shown below, Reddit shows an ad just before a highlight from a game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. You might've already seen Reddit's partnership in action, as the NFL started testing the program during the 2023-2024 season with video content and AMAs featuring Pro Bowl players and the NFL's schedule planners. In addition to the NFL, MLB, and NBA, the PGA Tour and Nascar are also partnering with Reddit. "We're continuing to build more ways for businesses and organizations to engage with Reddit's communities; this benefits our communities, program partners, and advertisers," Reddit COO Jen Wong says in the press release. As pointed out by The Information, Twitter had similar deals with media firms and sports leagues before Elon Musk's takeover. For the past year or so, Reddit has been trying to drum up revenue to make the now-public company more appealing to investors. The platform cut lucrative deals with OpenAI and Google to train AI models on user content. It also made it more expensive for some third-party developers to access its API last year, leading to protests across the site.
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Reddit Inks Pro Sports Deal to Draw in More Ad Revenue
Looking to boost ad revenue, Reddit has signed deals with several pro sports leagues. The social media platform announced Monday (July 22) it had struck agreements with the NFL, MBA, Major League Baseball, NASCAR and the PGA Tournament to expand its sports content. "We believe these new partnerships can enhance our community experience with content that fans want while enabling advertisers to align with expanded fan content on Reddit," the company wrote on its blog. "Through our official partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA TOUR, and NASCAR, redditors will gain access to video highlights from games and tournaments, player AMAs, behind-the-scenes videos, and more special content posted by the leagues throughout their seasons and including during major events like Super Bowl and NBA All-Star." The company says the professional sports leagues are among its most engaged Reddit Pro users, with sports one of its most popular and fastest-growing interest groups -- up 26% year over year -- with more than 1,000 communities. Reddit says its advertisers can align their brands to these communities and the content within them, similar to what companies such as FanDuel, Samsung, Ford, and Volkswagen did when the company conducted a test with the NFL during the 2023-24 season. "During the test, an alcoholic beverage brand saw a +11.3 point lift in purchase intent, a +9.4 point lift in brand favorability, and a 5.9 point lift in awareness by activating alongside premium video content from the NFL," the company said. Reddit, which went public in March, has been in partnership mode of late. The platform signed a deal in May with OpenAI that lets that company use Reddit content to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models, while OpenAI becomes a Reddit advertiser. In this collaboration, OpenAI will bring Reddit content to ChatGPT and new products by accessing Reddit's Data API, which provides real-time, structured and unique content from the social media platform, the company wrote on its blog. Another aspect of the partnership involves Reddit building on OpenAI's platform of AI models to bring new AI-powered features to its users and moderators. "Reddit has become one of the Internet's largest open archives of authentic, relevant and always up to date human conversations about anything and everything," Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit, said in the blog post. "Including it in ChatGPT upholds our belief in a connected internet, helps people find more of what they're looking for, and helps new audiences find community on Reddit."
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Reddit's big sports move is boosting its stock
Reddit is plunging headfirst into the lucrative sports marketing sector. The social media site on Monday announced a host of new partnerships with major sports leagues -- the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), the PGA Tour, and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Reddit users will get access to video highlights from games and tournaments, player AMAs (ask me anything sessions, which are basically just Q&A interviews), behind-the-scenes videos, and other special content posted by the leagues throughout their seasons and major events. Reddit said it has more than 1,000 active communities in the sports category, and interest in those forums has increased a lot. According to the social media site, screenviews on sports-related forums increased 26% over the last 12 months. The sports marketing space is protected to increase more than 20% to a value of over $55 billion by 2030, with fans primarily turning to YouTube, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) to peruse sports-related content. Reddit has sought new ways to fill its coffers since it started gearing up to go public. It struck a $60 million-per-year AI licensing deal with Google in February. After a successful IPO, the company reported first-quarter revenues that were nearly 50% higher than the year before. Reddit shares jumped nearly 7% on Monday after the new sports partnerships were announced. 1,000: Number of sports-related Reddit forums 20.4 billion: Redditors' screenviews of sports-related Reddit forums over the last year 249 million: Monthly engagements (posts, votes, comments) in sports subreddits across the globe
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Reddit has struck a groundbreaking partnership with major sports leagues including the NBA, NFL, and MLB. This deal allows the platform to share game highlights and aims to boost ad revenue while enhancing user experience.
Reddit's Game-Changing Sports Partnership
In a move that's set to revolutionize sports content consumption on social media, Reddit has announced a landmark deal with major professional sports leagues, including the NBA, NFL, and MLB. This partnership allows Reddit to officially share game highlights on its platform, marking a significant shift in how sports content is distributed and consumed online
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.The Deal's Scope and Impact
The agreement encompasses a wide range of content, including game highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, and other exclusive material. This move is expected to significantly enhance the user experience for sports fans on Reddit, providing them with quick and easy access to key moments from their favorite games and teams
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.Financial Implications and Ad Revenue
While the financial terms of the deal remain undisclosed, industry experts speculate that this partnership could be a game-changer for Reddit's advertising revenue. By offering official sports content, Reddit aims to attract more advertisers interested in reaching engaged sports fans. This strategy aligns with Reddit's broader efforts to monetize its platform and diversify its revenue streams
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.User Experience and Community Engagement
Reddit's unique community-driven structure is expected to play a crucial role in how this content is shared and discussed. The platform's various sports-related subreddits, which already boast millions of active users, are likely to see increased engagement as official highlights become readily available. This could lead to more in-depth discussions and analyses, further solidifying Reddit's position as a go-to platform for sports fans
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Market Response and Future Prospects
The announcement of this partnership has been met with enthusiasm from investors, with Reddit's stock price seeing a significant spike. This positive market response underscores the perceived value of official sports content in driving user engagement and advertising revenue. As Reddit continues to evolve its content strategy, this deal could pave the way for similar partnerships in other entertainment sectors
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.Challenges and Competition
Despite the optimism surrounding the deal, Reddit faces challenges in implementing this new content strategy. The platform will need to balance the integration of official highlights with its existing user-generated content model. Additionally, Reddit will be competing with established sports content providers and social media platforms that already offer similar features
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