Are Subreddit Paywalls Ahead on Reddit? [CNET]

Reddit went public in March and its CEO says the platform will use AI to make search easier and may be charging to access some subreddits.

In a call with investors this week, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman suggested that the social platform could start to include, “New types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”

Although Huffman stressed that the free version of Reddit would continue, users could see paywalled areas of Reddit as the company, which went public in March, continues to grow. Huffman reported to investors for the second-quarter call that Reddit has had 50 percent growth in users and revenue year-over-year. 

“We’ve had versions of premium community features in the past, like r/goldlounge, that users loved, so we’re exploring new ways to empower moderators and communities to try exclusive spaces and content,” said Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt. “We’ll let you know when we have more to share.”

Another major change coming to Reddit will be AI-assisted search. Huffman said in the call that the company will begin testing a mix of internally developed AI and third-party AI later this year to offer search summaries. Huffman said the result pages will use AI, “to summarize and recommend content, helping users dive deeper” into Reddit content and communities. According to Huffman, Reddit users run a billion search queries a month. 

Read more: I’m on the front page of Reddit. This is how it feels

Reddit says it has more than 342 million active users and 91 million daily active users. Paywalled subreddits would be a new revenue stream for the online discussion platform. It currently makes money primarily by selling ads and offering premium subscriptions for $50 a year or $5.99 a month.