Reddit brings Pro features for publishers for the first time, launch slated mid-September

New Delhi: India is Reddit’s second-largest market in the world. Yet, despite this scale, no major Indian news publisher has built a presence on Reddit. While newspapers and digital-first outlets push content aggressively on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, Reddit continues to be left out of the mix.

That could soon change as the platform is about to make a fresh pitch to publishers. In the second week of September, Reddit is set to roll out new features within its Pro suite that are designed specifically for media companies, sources told BestMediaInfo.com.  

On paper, it looks like a long-overdue move. India is Reddit’s second-largest market globally and has helped the platform clock $1.6 billion in ad revenue last year. Yet, if you scroll through subreddits today, you won’t find a single major Indian news publisher. Everyone is present on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. But Reddit? Not yet.

Why did publishers stay away?

Part of Reddit’s problem was that it was never built as a broadcast tool. Unlike other platforms where publishers can push content to mass audiences, Reddit demands active participation. It asks brands to listen, comment and blend into communities before they start posting. That makes it a slower burn, especially for large Indian publishers that thrive on scale, as explained by a top executive of India’s leading news dailies. 

As the executive put it, “If Reddit has done six tie-ups, my story ends up sitting alongside content that doesn’t match our brand. Our branding gets washed away”. The executive claimed that Reddit’s user base in India is still too small for major players to consider, especially when the leading dailies clock MAUs (Monthly Active Users) much higher than that of Reddit. 

The ROI puzzle

For others, the stumbling block is return on investment. A senior executive from a leading national daily was candid to say, “Reddit is very community-led. The numbers are nowhere near what you see on X, Meta or YouTube. Even if we pour resources, we do not know how to justify the ROI”.

The economics are steep. The executive shared that producing a single story on their news platform costs Rs 15,000, while a long-form investigative piece can run up to Rs 40,000. With such high costs, building a community on Reddit without clear monetisation looks unsustainable. “If I build a community on Reddit, what money am I making out of it?” the executive asked. 

Why does Reddit matter?

And yet, Reddit cannot be dismissed. The platform has quietly become the most cited source across AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, according to a report by Semrush. As blue links fade and AI summaries dominate search, publishers who ignore Reddit risk becoming invisible to the next generation of news discovery.

That is where Reddit Pro comes in. Pitched as an “organic playbook” for businesses, it offers tools to track conversations, monitor brand mentions, and engage with communities without appearing promotional. The September update will add publisher-focused features, the details of which the company declined to share. 

Adding to the subject matter, the top daily executive admitted, “In Reddit, the engagement may not increase breadth but can definitely increase depth.” The executive acknowledged that while the numbers are modest, the community-led model can deliver more meaningful conversations. 

The scale conundrum

Still, the challenge of scale looms large. “In Europe, a success is five million users. Here, five million doesn’t even count,” the same executive pointed out. For Indian publishers already battling shrinking digital yields and heavy competition from tech majors, a platform that cannot guarantee big numbers feels like a distraction.

There is also the question of control. Many publishers have invested in their own apps and ecosystems where they own both the audience and the revenue.

The big question

So, will Reddit’s new Pro features for publishers, slated for mid-September, change the game? The honest answer -  not overnight. 

India’s news industry is under pressure from falling ad yields, rising costs and platforms that dominate distribution. Experimenting with Reddit will remain a low priority unless it comes with clear commercial returns.

But as AI reshapes how people search and consume news, the depth of engagement on Reddit may become too significant to ignore. If Reddit Pro’s new tools can bridge the gap between community-building and measurable impact, India’s publishers may finally give the platform a second look.