Reddit to Shift Toward Primarily Logged-In Experience Amid Declining Search Traffic
Reddit announced plans to move most users to a logged-in interface to protect data from AI scraping and improve monetization as search referrals fall and U.S. daily active users dip.
Reddit said it will transition to a primarily logged-in experience after reporting a slowdown in search-driven traffic during its third-quarter earnings call. The company aims to shield its data from AI-powered scraping and to pursue licensing agreements with model providers, while also seeking higher advertising revenue from logged-in users who generate more detailed interest signals.
Global daily active users held steady at 130.3 million in Q3, but U.S. daily active users fell to 50.7 million, a 2% year-over-year decline. The platform noted that search referrals dropped by more than one million per week in October, and warned that continued losses could reduce daily active users by a low-double-digit percentage in the next quarter.
Despite the user-base contraction, Reddit reported a 53% year-over-year revenue increase to $895 million, surpassing analysts’ expectations. Advertising revenue grew 54% to $847 million, and non-advertising revenue, which includes AI data-licensing, rose 35% to $48 million. Average revenue per daily active user in the United States climbed 53% to $13.82, while the global figure rose 36% to $6.87.
The company said the logged-in rollout will begin with tests in select markets outside the United States in the fourth quarter, with no firm timeline for a worldwide launch. It emphasized that a logged-out front page will remain available and that users can still browse anonymously via an “incognito mode” that is being rebuilt.
"I don’t know about you, but as someone whose life has been defined by the open internet, it’s a big change for me," Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman wrote in a post on the site. "But I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the right decision for our platform and the right decision for our business."
"There are still plenty of questions that are unanswered, particularly around where the boundaries should be between logged-in and logged-out experiences," Huffman added. "This is a big evolution for Reddit, and not one we’re taking lightly. But I believe it is the right next step for the platform and for our future."