Calling them “free-form ads,” Reddit said the new advertisements are its most native format ever, designed to look and feel like community content shared by real people.
The ads, meant to mimic the site’s megathreads, will enable advertisers to utilize a variety of formats in one post, including images, videos, and text.
According to numbers from Reddit, free-form ads got 28% more clicks than all other types of ads on the site and saw a jump in community engagement.
The next time you see an interesting post in your Reddit feed, take a closer look - because it might just be a paid advertisement.
I am confident that’s the case - there’s a reason the mobile website is constantly asking you if you’d like to use the app instead… it’s their preferred mode for you to view. Even if it is terrible, it locks you onto Reddit.
They can access a lot more information about you with a native app, and it also gives them the ability to do push notifications which makes things more sticky