Reddit introduces Pro tools aimed at making platform easier for news publishers

New Delhi: Reddit has announced the launch of its first dedicated Pro tools for publishers, marking a shift in how news organisations can share content and engage with communities on the platform. 

The development, unveiled on September 10 through Reddit’s official blog, comes days after BestMediaInfo.com exclusively reported that the rollout was scheduled for mid-September.

The tools are being positioned as a way to help publishers track, automate and better understand how their content is performing across Reddit. They are now available through a beta waitlist that will open globally, with accepted publishers expected to be onboarded within one to three weeks.

According to Reddit, publishers who sign up for the Pro version will see a new “Links” tab within Reddit Pro. The most prominent feature within this section is an article insights dashboard that allows publishers to monitor how their content travels across the platform. 

This includes information on where articles are being posted, the number of views, upvotes and clicks they receive, and the communities where they are generating discussion.

To ease the process of publishing, Reddit Pro also allows news organisations to integrate their RSS feeds directly with the platform. Once synced, new articles automatically appear in the Pro interface, ready to be shared with relevant audiences. This is expected to reduce the manual effort of posting stories one by one, which has often been a barrier for time-pressed newsroom teams.

Perhaps the most ambitious feature is Reddit’s use of artificial intelligence to recommend which communities are best suited for an article. By suggesting the most relevant subreddits, the platform aims to help publishers place their journalism in front of audiences most likely to engage with it, while also ensuring that conversations happen in relevant communities. 

Alongside these tools, Reddit has also begun testing a new in-app reading experience. Readers can now consume an article directly within the Reddit app and swipe up to comment without having to leave the platform. This smoother integration is designed to make reading and discussing news more natural, while also encouraging publishers to participate more actively.

“These tools are just the first step in empowering publishers to engage more deeply on Reddit and giving users a conversation-forward reading experience. Our goal is to make Reddit a go-to place for distribution and discussion of real, human perspectives surrounding the latest headlines,” Reddit said in a statement. 

The launch follows several months of early testing with a small group of US-based publishers, including The Atlantic, NBC News, The Hill and Associated Press. Their participation was part of an alpha phase, after which Reddit decided to expand access through the newly announced beta waitlist.

For Reddit, which has long been seen as a challenging platform for publishers to navigate, the launch of Pro tools represents a deliberate effort to change that perception. By providing analytics, automation and AI-driven recommendations, the company is attempting to make Reddit a more measurable and manageable part of publishers’ digital distribution strategies.

BestMediaInfo.com was the first to report that such a rollout was imminent. Now that the official announcement has been made, attention will turn to whether publishers, both in India and globally, choose to commit resources to Reddit.