While Reddit is now up to 430 million users, many advertisers remain hesitant to invest in the platform because of past controversies related to its free speech approach, and it’s notoriously ad-opposed community that might not be overly welcoming to their content.

But Reddit has changed a lot in recent times. Back in June, for example, the platform removed more than 2,000 subreddits after a revision of its policies around hate speech, while the Reddit community is also now far more accustomed to in-stream ads and seeing sponsored posts within their feed.

But Reddit still has some work to do in winning brands over – and this week, it’s launched three new tiered ad inventory options which aim to provide businesses with varying levels of brand safety when running their on-platform promotions.

As explained by Reddit:

“Reddit is home to many types of advertisers, all of which have different needs when it comes to their brand message and campaign objective. While Reddit has previously offered the same set of inventory to all advertisers with universal brand safety controls, Inventory Types recognizes that no two advertisers are the same, and provides greater choice to meet these unique needs across three different tiers.” 

Reddit’s three new ad tiers are as follows:

• Expanded Inventory – This category enables advertisers to access Reddit’s maximum inventory pool, and appear next to the broadest range of content. “This new tier will open up more than 20% more communities for targeting, giving advertisers access to a significantly larger user base via inventory that continues to meet Reddit’s content standards.”
• Standard Inventory – This option provides “balanced reach and protection” to fit the needs of most advertisers. In other words, the more controversial subreddits are not included, ensuring brand safety.
• Limited Inventory – This option provides optimal brand safety via a partnership with Oracle Data Cloud’s contextual intelligence tool, adding an extra stage of verification to ensure your ads don’t appear alongside questionable content.

​So advertisers will now have more ways to ensure their Reddit ads only appear where they choose, and don’t get displayed next to potentially offensive or concerning content, which could have reputational impacts.

The concern is relevant on Reddit, where varying types of controversial posts can gain traction, but Reddit does also note that ads are only eligible to appear in communities on its hand-curated allowlist.

“All advertisers will continue to have the choice to enable or disable comments on their ads, as well as exclude certain keywords and communities based on their individual preferences.”

So there is a level of brand safety built into all its ad options, but now, brands that want to see maximum reach will be able to do so, while those looking to maintain more security in their placements will also have options. 

Definitely, Reddit is worth consideration. Not all brands will see success on the platform, but given the vast range of subjects discussed, and the engagement of Reddit communities, utilizing the right placements and ad options could facilitate good results, and these new control measures will help brands avoid potential controversy in their promotions.

Inventory Types is available for all Reddit advertisers starting today.