Reddit is making a significant move into the profitable sports marketing industry.
On Monday, the social media platform revealed several new partnerships with prominent sports leagues, including the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), the PGA Tour, and NASCAR.
As part of these partnerships, Reddit users will gain access to a range of exclusive content, including video highlights from games and tournaments, player AMAs (ask me anything sessions), behind-the-scenes footage, and other special content shared by the leagues throughout their seasons and major events.
The platform has noted that it hosts over 1,000 active communities focusing on sports, with a significant surge in interest. Screenviews of sports-related forums reportedly increased by 26% over the past year.
The sports marketing sector is expected to see a growth of more than 20%, reaching a value of over $55 billion by 2030, with fans primarily engaging with sports content on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter).
In its quest for new revenue streams as it prepares for a public offering, Reddit previously secured a $60 million annual AI licensing deal with Google in February. Following a successful IPO, the company announced first-quarter revenue that was nearly 50% higher than the previous year, resulting in a nearly 7% rise in Reddit shares after the announcement of the sports partnerships.
Key figures include:
– 1,000: Number of sports-related Reddit forums
– 20.4 billion: Screenviews of sports-related Reddit forums over the last year
– 249 million: Monthly engagements (posts, votes, comments) in sports subreddits worldwide
– $55 billion: Estimated value of the sports marketing sector by 2030
– $243 million: Reddit’s first-quarter revenue