Reddit is stepping its attempts to recruit more users outside of the U.S., placing nations like India and Brazil in focus as it aims to unlock new advertising potential, a top company official told CNBC.
In a wide-ranging interview, Jen Wong, chief operating officer of Reddit, claimed rival platforms have 80% to 90% of users outside of the U.S. whereas approximately half of her company’s current users are situated worldwide.
Reddit has generally been an English-language network, but the business is seeking to broaden its foreign appeal with the assistance of artificial intelligence translations. This year, Reddit released a tool that automatically translates its site into multiple languages. Wong added that roughly 20 to 30 languages might be accessible by the end of the year.
India opportunity
Among the company’s fastest-growing markets in terms of users is the U.K., the Philippines, India and Brazil. “India’s growing really rapidly,” Wong remarked. “We see a big opportunity in India.”
The Reddit COO added that India has a significant English-speaking online population, and there are lots of interested users around themes like cricket and the Bollywood movie business.
Wong also claimed Reddit has been meeting with “mods” — or moderators, who control material on communities on the site.
Advertising opportunity
Growth in areas like India might drive Reddit to grow ad revenue, its major source of income.
International markets contribute for little over 17% of Reddit’s income now, according to the company’s third-quarter data, despite over 50% of its users being situated outside the U.S.
Wong added that Reddit initially explores cross-border advertising for foreign markets, such as when a European firm is trying to promote in the U.S. Then, when Reddit gets roughly 10% of a country’s internet population in a country, there is a potential to establish teams focused on local advertising – like an Indian brand advertising to Indian people.
This has not yet happened in many places, but Reddit is keeping a watch on several of its fastest developing nations, Wong added.
New search tools
Reddit users will know that it’s not always the simplest site to locate what you’re searching for — a shortcoming that the business is now seeking to rectify with new search capabilities.
During Reddit’s third-quarter earnings call this month, CEO Steve Huffman termed search on the network a “focused investment” in 2025.
Wong explained that the firm is thinking of its search tool as a method of allowing visitors to travel throughout the site to identify comparable subjects or content that they may have otherwise missed.
“You land on a post and but it’s almost like a dead end. But there are a lot of postings, typically like that post, or there are other posts like that post in other groups. And so providing you a whole perspective of what it looks like is a really intriguing opportunity,” Wong said. “Guiding you through Reddit as you follow that line of thinking, is how we think of the opportunity.”
