Home to the fourth largest user base and growing at 40% year over year, today Reddit officially says “G’Day” to the Southern Hemisphere as they open the doors of the Australian business based in Sydney.
To help fulfill their mission to bring community and belonging to everyone in the world, Australia is core to their international growth strategy. This launch follows Reddit’s successful market entries in Canada in March 2021 and the United Kingdom in September 2020.
The new Australian team launches with dedicated, locally-based Community, Engineering and Sales staff, as well as country manager, David Ray, who will join us in the coming weeks from WooliesX, and has experience leading teams in Australia for Amazon, Twitter and Telstra. The Australian business is managed by Reddit’s head of international, Tariq Mahmoud, and is already partnering with local entities, working with Australian-based moderators and communities, and establishing local brand partnerships. The Australian Sales team sits within the global Sales org under the leadership of Reddit’s EVP and President Global Advertising, Harold Klaje.
“We’ve been fortunate to experience strong organic growth from our Australian user base in recent years, and with this comes a significant opportunity to level-up our local offering in a more focussed and nuanced way,” said Reddit chief operating officer, Jen Wong. “From building out our highly engaged Australian communities to finding homes for local brands on the platform, this launch is just the beginning of our investment in the market and key to our wider international vision as we continue to scale Reddit at pace.”
Globally, Reddit brings together more than 52 million Daily Active Users across 100,000+ communities. In Australia, user activity mimics global trends with gaming, crypto and entertainment among the most popular interest groups, but there is a clear local twist. r/australia, the community of 700,000 members where you can “chew the fat about Australia and Australians”, is the most popular subreddit among Australian users, with r/ausfinance and r/asx_bets following closely behind. In a surprise to no one, r/afl and r/nrl also make the Top 10 Australian communities list, joining Reddit’s ever-popular Sports Interest Group which attracted more than one billion screen views globally, for the month of April 2021 alone. Local takes on leading global communities are also popular among Australian Reddit users, with r/askanaustralian, r/australianteachers and r/ausproperty among the fastest growing communities for Australian users in 2021.
At an average of 31 minutes per day, Australians spend more time on Reddit than they do Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest and they collectively contribute 158 million posts, comments and votes on the platform every month. 62% of Australian users sit in the highly desirable 18 – 34 year old segment, with 28% aged between 35 – 49.
Unlike other social media platforms, Aussies on Reddit are connected by passions and interests, rather than demographics which makes the platform home to some of the most honest, authentic and passionate conversations on the internet. 40% of Reddit users in Australia are not on Twitter, 20% are not on Facebook, 23% are not on Instagram, 51% are not on Snapchat and 70% are not on TikTok.
“Reddit is a cultural phenomenon and a great platform for brands wishing to connect with customers, fans, and advocates who influence brand loyalty and purchase decisions,” said UM’s US Chief Digital Officer, Joshua Lowcock. “As an Australian expat living in New York, I have seen first-hand the success clients have had working with Reddit. Investing in a dedicated Australian presence and local approach to community and moderation will reinforce Reddit’s market position for locally-based brands and advertisers seeking to navigate the depth and breadth of the platform and unlock its immense value.”
The local Sales team will be committed to helping Australian brands meaningfully participate with these highly engaged, unduplicated audiences through best-in-class creative campaigns, scalable solutions and industry-leading trends and insights. They will work closely with the global team as we continue to evolve the Reddit Ads platform to meet the needs of all advertisers globally.
“With the rise and power of online communities, the launch of Reddit in Australia is exciting not only for us but for the industry at large,” said Reprise CEO Maria Grivas. “Reddit is the home of online community and I’m looking forward to seeing more Australian brands embrace these highly influential online spaces and the distinct marketing opportunities they bring, with Reddit’s official introduction to the market.”