Reddit Explores Paywalled Subreddits: CEO Steve Huffman Reveals New Monetization Plan

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman revealed plans for potential paywalled subreddits during an earnings call, aiming to offer new monetization opportunities for content creators.

Reddit CEO Hints at Paywalls

A paywall may be in the works for some subreddits, according to Reddit's hints.

During a Tuesday earnings call, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman brought up the concept in response to a question about how the site could enable content creators to make money, similar to what they do on YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.

"I think the existing altruistic-free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive, just the way it has," according to Huffman. "But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature."

User Backlash Over Paywalls

Some Redditors are already complaining about the comment because they think the social media site is going downhill and trying to mimic OnlyFans, where users may publish nudes to paying members.

"They're clearly just throwing excrement at the wall to see what sticks in their everlasting quest to make Reddit profitable," remarked one user.

Huffman, on the other hand, asserts that the classic Reddit and any new economic models can live happily together. "Whenever we add basically a new way of using Reddit... it expands Reddit," he stated. "We've not seen it cannibalize existing Reddit."

According to a Reddit representative, the company is looking into new ways to give communities and moderators more control over private places and content because they have previously had successful premium community services like r/goldlounge. When we have additional information to give, we will inform you.

Reddit's Financial Surge

Per PC Mag, Reddit has been putting an emphasis on increasing revenue since its March IPO. The expanding ad business on Reddit contributed to the 54% year-over-year growth in Q2 revenue, which totaled $281.2 million. To further leverage Reddit data for AI model training, the company has also struck lucrative partnerships with tech giants like OpenAI and Google.

"Other revenue grew over 690% year-over-year to $28.1 million, primarily driven by data licensing agreements signed in the first half of the year," the business announced on Tuesday.