Reddit is opening some of the most visited real estate on the internet to advertising. The platform now offers a new ad type called "Trending Takeover," which allows companies to place branded content on the Popular feed and search bar for 24 hours.
This gives advertisers a chance to place their content next to the biggest trending topics on the website, whether that's a cat video or a coronavirus update.
"One of the most popular parts of Reddit is our popular tab and the search bar," Shariq Rizvi, vice president of ads product and engineering at Reddit. "These are parts of the Reddit app that are visited by more than a third of our users on a daily basis."
The new offering marks Reddit's push to diversify beyond simple banner ads and promoted content. The site chose the Popular feed and search bar because they are core to Reddit's model of curation and discovery.
"These are the parts of the app where users go to discover the new trends, the conversations, the fads, which are born every day on Reddit," he said.
Reddit attracts upwards of 430 million users per month, according to the company.
Despite this expansive readership, the company has historically focused less on revenue than fellow social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook. But over the last year, it seems to have taken a renewed interest in boosting ad sales.
In April 2019, Reddit hired Jen Wong, formerly a senior executive at Time Inc., as chief operating officer. It also started pitching agencies more aggressively, according to a CNBC report.
"We've been growing our ad business in an aggressive way," Rizvi said. "We have seen tremendous growth year-over-year."
Starbucks’ decision to restrict its restrooms to paying customers has flushed out a wider problem: a patchwork of restroom use policies that varies by state and city. Starbucks announced last week a new code of conduct that says people need to make a purchase if they want to hang out or use the restroom. The coffee chain's policy change for bathroom privileges has left Americans confused and divided over who gets to go and when. The American Restroom Association, a public toilet advocacy group, was among the critics. Rules about restroom access in restaurants vary by state, city and county. The National Retail Federation says private businesses have a right to limit restroom use.
President Donald Trump is talking up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. The new entity, Stargate, will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. While Trump has seized on similar announcements to show that his presidency is boosting the economy, there were already expectations of a massive buildout of data centers and electricity plants needed for the development of AI.
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