Reddit plans a primarily logged-in experience

Reddit’s announcement points to a primarily logged-in experience rather than making every page inaccessible to logged-out visitors. The company says its homepage will remain available to people who are not signed in, and visitors arriving through search engines or shared links will still be able to view the linked content.[1][2] However, commenting and content ranking will remain available only to logged-in users.[2] Reddit plans to test the change outside the United States this quarter and expand it gradually, but has not specified when it will reach all users.[2][3]

Reddit says logged-in users can receive tailored content, feeds and community recommendations based on their activity and interests, with an option to opt out of personalization.[2] The company is also relaunching its app’s incognito mode, which lets users browse and search without affecting their logged-in accounts.[2] That mode will be read-only: users cannot comment or otherwise engage while using it.[2] Reddit says logging in will not require people to disclose their real names or real-world identities.[2] Together, these details distinguish signing in from sharing a legal identity, while leaving engagement features tied to an account.

Reddit reported that search referrals fell by more than one million on average per week in October, and warned that daily active users could decline by a low-double-digit percentage next quarter if the trend continues.[1][2] CEO Steve Huffman said the shift is intended to improve the user experience, strengthen the advertising business and protect Reddit’s data from scraping.[2] He also said the change is about building the best version of Reddit, rather than responding to changes in Google Search.[2] Reddit says it will continue licensing content to third parties so it can set terms for scraping and content use.[2]

Huffman said Reddit will monitor conversion to logged-in users as one measure of success.[2] Wong said logged-in users engage about five times as much as logged-out users, seeing more impressions and producing more business outcomes for advertisers.[2] Reddit said performance advertising accounts for more than 60% of ad revenue and is its fastest-growing business segment.[2] The company reported third-quarter revenue of $895 million, up 53% year over year, including $847 million in advertising revenue and $48 million in revenue outside advertising, including data licensing.[4][2]