Reddit is making significant strides into the profitable sports marketing arena.
On Monday, the platform unveiled several new partnerships with prominent sports leagues, including the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), PGA Tour, and National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).
In a bid to enhance user engagement, Reddit will provide its users with access to video highlights from games and tournaments, player AMAs (ask me anything sessions), behind-the-scenes footage, and other exclusive content from these leagues throughout their seasons and major events.
The company noted it has over 1,000 active communities related to sports, with a notable rise in interest in these forums. Reddit reported a 26% increase in screenviews on sports-focused forums over the past year.
The sports marketing sector is projected to grow by over 20% and reach a valuation exceeding $55 billion by 2030, as fans increasingly turn to platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) for sports-related content.
As Reddit gears up for an initial public offering (IPO), the company has been exploring various avenues to increase revenue. Earlier in the year, it entered into a lucrative $60 million-per-year AI licensing agreement with Google. Following the announcement of the new sports partnerships, Reddit shares rose nearly 7% on Monday.
Here are some key figures from Reddit’s sports-related activities:
– 1,000: Number of sports-related Reddit forums
– 20.4 billion: Screenviews of sports-related Reddit forums in the past year
– 249 million: Monthly engagements (posts, votes, comments) in sports subreddits globally
– $55 billion: Anticipated value of the sports marketing sector in 2030
– $243 million: Reddit’s revenue for the first quarter of the year