63 votes

Ripples through Reddit as advertisers weather moderators strike

29 comments

  1. [8]
    Parliament
    Link
    My company advertises on reddit, so I told our head of marketing to reach out and ask our contact how we're supposed to advertise when the 2 best subreddits for it are private (even as of this...

    My company advertises on reddit, so I told our head of marketing to reach out and ask our contact how we're supposed to advertise when the 2 best subreddits for it are private (even as of this writing). Still waiting on a response from reddit.

    65 votes
    1. MimicSquid
      Link Parent
      I'd be interested in hearing what the results are when you have any info. There's lots of speculation going around, and hearing from someone who has first hand information would be excellent.

      I'd be interested in hearing what the results are when you have any info. There's lots of speculation going around, and hearing from someone who has first hand information would be excellent.

      28 votes
    2. [6]
      devilized
      Link Parent
      How does this work, from an advertiser perspective? You pay for ads, which are based on number of impressions. So your biggest subreddits are private. I would think that you simply don't pay for...

      How does this work, from an advertiser perspective? You pay for ads, which are based on number of impressions. So your biggest subreddits are private. I would think that you simply don't pay for it, right? Or is that not how it works?

      8 votes
      1. [2]
        thirtythreeforty
        Link Parent
        Counterpoint: What if I hypothetically let you run pre-roll ads on my household's local instance of Jellyfin, I'll even give you a very attractive per-impression rate - half of what Reddit is...

        Counterpoint: What if I hypothetically let you run pre-roll ads on my household's local instance of Jellyfin, I'll even give you a very attractive per-impression rate - half of what Reddit is charging.

        Of course nobody is interested! They still have to spend time (== fixed cost overhead) fooling with it. There are multiple opportunity costs related to running ads on an irrelevant platform.

        Obviously it's a continuum, and somewhere along it is the point where it's no longer desirable.

        3 votes
        1. devilized
          Link Parent
          Sure, but presumably, the work to create and these ads was already done. It's just that for the 2-3 (or whatever) days, they weren't getting impressions. The cost was already sunk. Presumably,...

          Sure, but presumably, the work to create and these ads was already done. It's just that for the 2-3 (or whatever) days, they weren't getting impressions. The cost was already sunk. Presumably, they'll pick back up when the subs come back online.

          1 vote
      2. Parliament
        Link Parent
        I'm not sure about all the mechanics, but I know we had run campaigns earlier this year and were discussing more for this summer until the API situation. Those plans are on hold while we wait for...

        I'm not sure about all the mechanics, but I know we had run campaigns earlier this year and were discussing more for this summer until the API situation. Those plans are on hold while we wait for subs to open back up. It looks like 1 of the 2 we advertise in is back up now.

        1 vote
      3. [2]
        zielperson
        Link Parent
        This is indeed how it is often handled. You either pay per click, or per thousand impressions. Problem here is not the cost = 0, but people seeing the ads = 0

        This is indeed how it is often handled.
        You either pay per click, or per thousand impressions.

        Problem here is not the cost = 0, but people seeing the ads = 0

        1 vote
        1. devilized
          Link Parent
          Ah ok, I was looking at the wrong problem then (cost vs effect).

          Ah ok, I was looking at the wrong problem then (cost vs effect).

          1 vote
  2. [2]
    WittyPat
    Link
    Lot of conflicting news on the results of the blackout. You have Reddit claiming no financial impacts and even a surge in traffic, but then you have advertisers claiming to be impacted. I'm even...

    Lot of conflicting news on the results of the blackout. You have Reddit claiming no financial impacts and even a surge in traffic, but then you have advertisers claiming to be impacted.

    I'm even surprised Reddit is allowed to change the target audience for an ad as stated in the article:

    Reddit told advertisers that it was redirecting impressions lost from these blacked-out subreddits to the home page, as there has been an overall spike in traffic to the platform, according to a media buyer who was not authorized to speak on the communication.

    Like if I pay to have an ad on /r/gaming because it's only relevant to gamers, then shouldn't I get my money back if it wasn't shown on there?

    33 votes
    1. funkyb
      Link Parent
      Yep, you should. Or at minimum, a make-good credit based on an analysis of any campaign performance change should be granted. You can bet your ask we'd be asking for our money back if this...

      Yep, you should. Or at minimum, a make-good credit based on an analysis of any campaign performance change should be granted. You can bet your ask we'd be asking for our money back if this happened to us.

      19 votes
  3. [3]
    snarkyginger
    Link
    Hold the line users and mods! spez is so sure that this storm "too shall pass," but I think we should remind him that "FAFO" makes for a much different storm to weather, in fact, it may not be...

    Hold the line users and mods! spez is so sure that this storm "too shall pass," but I think we should remind him that "FAFO" makes for a much different storm to weather, in fact, it may not be withstood at all. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust- people can rebuild these communities again elsewhere, and right now Tildes looks very promising, and it's only in its alpha stage.

    32 votes
    1. [2]
      azulez
      Link Parent
      I think most of the danger is that people are waking up to just how much of a time-vacuum reddit has become for them. Prior to this break, I had a reflex, basically any time I had downtime, I had...

      I think most of the danger is that people are waking up to just how much of a time-vacuum reddit has become for them.

      Prior to this break, I had a reflex, basically any time I had downtime, I had muscle-memory keystrokes that would bring it up.

      I created a foil by deleting the suggestion from chrome, so now when I hit ctrl+2, ctrl+n, r, e, d, I end up staring at horrifying real estate prices instead.

      The reflex is fading, and even though the two days are up, it made me realize just how crazy addicted I was. I'm not sure it's fully broken but, I'm.. not sure that I want to come back. I've seen a ton of people - people with reasonable amounts of disposable income and deep knowledge - reflecting on the same thing.

      The trove of user comments from people who have specializations of knowledge may still exist, but the danger is waking those people up to the direction that the platform is turning and potentially how much of their life it has dominated. Brain-drain takes a long time to impact.

      Will it matter? Ultimately raw user count is their bottom line. Does it matter to them if it just becomes a cat-picture aggregator? Probably not, in all honesty.

      But it opens the door to other platforms in the longer run, which could pose a longer term danger -- which they don't give a damn about with IPO valuation on the horizon.

      18 votes
      1. d_b_cooper
        Link Parent
        Oh god this sounds like a hilarious reverse Pavlov situation

        I end up staring at horrifying real estate prices instead.

        Oh god this sounds like a hilarious reverse Pavlov situation

        8 votes
  4. [6]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. 3rd_eye
      Link Parent
      I think you’re right. I deleted my account yesterday. It was a weird feeling letting go of fake internet points but I really didn’t have anything of value that needed to be preserved there...

      I think you’re right. I deleted my account yesterday. It was a weird feeling letting go of fake internet points but I really didn’t have anything of value that needed to be preserved there anyways. The only thing I ever went back in my own history was looking at a flair in r/stopsmoking to figure out when I quit.

      In deleting my roughly 10 pages of comments/posts, I also realized I was not very active there either, I was mostly a lurker/doom scroll. Tildes has scratched an itch of a positive, ad free space that feels like the early internet and I’m happy to donate/pay to experience this

      18 votes
    2. devilized
      Link Parent
      I noticed that on /r/hockey. Most of the replies were people angry that the sub was blacked out during the Stanley Cup finals. I think this, plus the stats being collected that show just a minor...

      I noticed that on /r/hockey. Most of the replies were people angry that the sub was blacked out during the Stanley Cup finals. I think this, plus the stats being collected that show just a minor drop in comments and an indiscernible drop in posts during the blackout, followed by activity immediately returning to normal today goes to show that the majority of Redditors really don't care about these issues. Given Reddit's growth, many of them probably started with the official app and "new" UI, so they don't know anything better.

      I am, however, curious to see what happens at the end of the month with Apollo and RIF go dark. How many people will actually abandon Reddit (at least on mobile) as opposed to settling and downloading their bloated app?

      11 votes
    3. [2]
      smoontjes
      Link Parent
      Perhaps the whole thing was a loud minority to begin with?

      sentiment has changed in the comments

      Perhaps the whole thing was a loud minority to begin with?

      4 votes
      1. Promonk
        Link Parent
        It was always going to be a vocal minority, because it's only a minority who are vocal on the platform at all. By Reddit's own admission it's only a minority of visitors who register accounts, a...
        • Exemplary

        It was always going to be a vocal minority, because it's only a minority who are vocal on the platform at all. By Reddit's own admission it's only a minority of visitors who register accounts, a minority of those accounts that actually get used, a minority of those used accounts that actually comment or post, and a minority of those active accounts that moderate. There was never a question whether it would be a minority that got incensed enough to take action, but whether that minority has an outsized effect on how the site functions, and the extent of that effect.

        It's my contention that Reddit relied on the goodwill and volunteer spirit of that minority for its success, and that disregard for that group's sentiments is ultimately extremely harmful to the viability of the site. The blackout wasn't ever going to change Reddit Inc's plans, much as the participants wanted to believe it would. It was only ever going to function as a statement and a warning: do this thing, and your platform will fail.

        Spez and crew may have only ever viewed Reddit as a profit-generating machine, but that's not why people visited the site – or more accurately, built it into what it is. There's long been a fundamental disconnect between the motives of the active userbase and management. Recent events are only the most visible and obvious effect of this disconnect.

        That's why I think it's smart and important that @Deimos has put Tildes's philosophy and mission statement front-and-center. There was never really a functional social contract between Reddit management and its userbase – though I seem to remember a time when that was at least strongly implied.

        For my part, I'm pretty well done with Reddit. I've been disappointed by that motivational disconnect one too many times. Reddit Inc's priorities and mine don't align, and my experience on the site has been too negatively affected by the results of that disconnect. What remains to be seen is how many others share my disappointment, and whether that loss of faith will prove to be fatal to the Snoo.

        40 votes
    4. the_wind_effect
      Link Parent
      I think when the 3rd party apps shutdown it might be a larger impact. I know when I'm bored I almost automatically open up Reddit Is Fun and scroll. I can't see myself getting the official app and...

      I think when the 3rd party apps shutdown it might be a larger impact.

      I know when I'm bored I almost automatically open up Reddit Is Fun and scroll. I can't see myself getting the official app and having to actually browse will probably be enough of a hurdle for me to stop / drastically reduce my usage.

      When RiF, Apollo, etc stop then it will be interesting to see what the numbers look like.

      4 votes
  5. [3]
    TheJorro
    Link
    I think the most effective protest would be if most or all the mods just resigned. Anyone who has not moderated a subreddit over 100k users has no clue what it's like, and there's so much...

    I think the most effective protest would be if most or all the mods just resigned.

    Anyone who has not moderated a subreddit over 100k users has no clue what it's like, and there's so much antipathy for for moderators as a whole even though they are the backbone of why reddit is a tolerable place at all. I've seen this sentiment so entrenched with people that it's even coming into Tildes here with some new users. Reddit simultaneously fostered a complete, utter dependence on volunteer moderators and a deep-seated hatred of them.

    It's a shitty, thankless job where you provide many people value and receive little to nothing for it if you're a good mod. You get all the drama you want if you're a bad one. Without all the invisible quality moderators around, the quality of reddit would plummet extremely quickly and it would be like the Twitter collapse in fast-forward.

    18 votes
    1. creesch
      Link Parent
      That's going to be a hard sell. It is difficult to fully cut ties with a community you have invested countless hours into building. Even more difficult knowing that if you stop it will turn into a...

      That's going to be a hard sell. It is difficult to fully cut ties with a community you have invested countless hours into building. Even more difficult knowing that if you stop it will turn into a shit show.

      For the longest time I modded /r/history out of a sort of obligation. I was already halfway burned out on modding. But, back when there were still defaults and /r/history got invited I also witnessed what it would become without moderation. The first few months were a battle against a wide variety of bad faith actors trying to abuse history for their own gain. Everything from racists and other types of bigots to political slapfighting and all sorts of weird conspiracy theories and pseudo science.

      With lots of efforts, thousands of lines of automod regex (thanks @Deimos !) and many man-hours we managed to keep the place in check. With reddit moving more and more towards fluff content and attracting users that mainly like that type of content things didn't become easier.

      But, at that point the subreddit had grown to one of the biggest history communities on the internet. Leaving it at that point would have meant that we'd invite back in all those bad faith actors. So it took me a long time to make the call to stop modding that subreddit and only did so last year after much deliberation. I also only did so because there are still a few mods on the team active and trying to carry on.

      12 votes
    2. misk
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      I find it odd that reddit recognized that they depleted free labour pool about a year ago and are acting like that now. Mods have been vocal about how hard it is to find fresh blood and since then...

      I find it odd that reddit recognized that they depleted free labour pool about a year ago and are acting like that now.

      Mods have been vocal about how hard it is to find fresh blood and since then reddit responded with mod reserves and modding 101 training materials so they recognized this being an issue.

      During last mod summit I attended before stepping down from modding 500k subreddit spez promised mods that reddit planned for subreddits to be able to monetize engagement and be PayPal profiting from money changing hands. Either this was bullshit, another feature missing in action or something still yet to come. Probably MIA given how bad reddit is at implementing stuff. And I'm guessing a way to hook the mods.

      Now, anyone saying reddit will find new mods so that they can power trip instead of old ones is deluded. The amount of people replying to recruitment calls is pitiful and 90% are definitely not suited from the get go. The rest will be barely active or quit very soon. The technical people capable of running large subs will be even harder to find.

      Even if some mods will stay on board after this circus they will be carrying increased burden and burn out quicker than usual.

      5 votes
  6. chocobean
    Link
    Take home lesson: a Reddit without target-able and specific audience category is worthless to advertisers. Advertisers want to target gamers, or womenOver30, or the HomeImprovement crowd, instead...

    Take home lesson: a Reddit without target-able and specific audience category is worthless to advertisers.

    “By directing ads that would have gone to the blacked-out [moderated] pages to the homepage is kind of defeating the point,” said Liam Johnson, senior account director at Brainlabs, who hadn’t seen that particular note from Reddit. “The ads would then just be shown to the masses and outside of any of the contextually relevant locations that advertisers are trying to achieve with Reddit.”

    Advertisers want to target gamers, or womenOver30, or the HomeImprovement crowd, instead of being directed to the front page with everything mixed in. A Reddit with more subs shuttering up the better. Bots and farmers can still post junk and folks can get their doomscrolling fix, but groups with profitable demographics closing shop will hurt Reddit.

    15 votes
  7. crowsby
    Link
    I mean, that's the cheat code right there. Reddit's decision-making has traditionally been swayed more by advertiser sentiment than something mushy and ephemeral like boring old doing the right...

    [Advertisers] didn’t want to become the subject of users’ opinions about Reddit’s decisions.

    —Anonymous media buyer

    I mean, that's the cheat code right there. Reddit's decision-making has traditionally been swayed more by advertiser sentiment than something mushy and ephemeral like boring old doing the right thing or taking community interests into consideration.

    If the protests could find a meaningful way to put pressure on the advertisers, we'd be reading a mea culpa from Steve Huffman within the day.

    6 votes
  8. [2]
    norney
    Link
    Anecdote warning: over the past couple of days I've had cursory glances at one of the subs I have tended to frequent far too often. It's usually a reasonably reasonable place for discussion as...

    Anecdote warning: over the past couple of days I've had cursory glances at one of the subs I have tended to frequent far too often.

    It's usually a reasonably reasonable place for discussion as well as a healthy amount of shitposting. It hasn't gone dark and there was much discussion on the sub about the whys and wherefores of it.

    Traffic was much lower for sure, but the one striking thing is idiots seem to have stayed, and thus as a proportion of comments the prevalence of stupidity and racism was way higher than usual.

    Frankly this makes me even less interested in engaging. Not saying I never will, but for now I can live with less.

    My point being if even a relatively small percentage of users engage a percentage less in the medium term, that's a shit lot of adverts not getting impressions.

    6 votes
    1. phoenixrises
      Link Parent
      I think that was my biggest takeaway as well. It feels like the people who ended up staying were people who tended to not add much to the discussion, therefore you get a lot of comments that just...

      I think that was my biggest takeaway as well. It feels like the people who ended up staying were people who tended to not add much to the discussion, therefore you get a lot of comments that just amount to "This" and stuff like that. As more and more people realize that it'll feel like brain drain taking effect.

      The effects definitely won't be felt short term, but I feel like in the long term things will shake out and we'll find more and more interesting communities (such as this one!). I just hope the cycle won't continue afterwards but I guess nothing lasts forever.

      9 votes
  9. [3]
    Subvocal
    Link
    It would be cool if link posts here required a submission statement or something.

    It would be cool if link posts here required a submission statement or something.

    13 votes
    1. [2]
      eridan
      Link Parent
      ah apologies on that, fairly new here and didn't see any discussion on the actual affects this was having on advertisers. wasn't sure if adding my own commentary in the submission was required or...

      ah apologies on that, fairly new here and didn't see any discussion on the actual affects this was having on advertisers. wasn't sure if adding my own commentary in the submission was required or if it might affect the discussion in one direction or another. will be sure to include something in the future!

      19 votes
      1. MimicSquid
        Link Parent
        It's not required, but since we're here to talk, you're very welcome to say your own piece in addition to posting.

        It's not required, but since we're here to talk, you're very welcome to say your own piece in addition to posting.

        15 votes
  10. spidercat
    Link
    hit em where it hurts...

    hit em where it hurts...