The Company
Reddit is a social media and online discussion platform where users engage in topic-based communities called “subreddits.” The platform enables users to post content, comment, and vote on discussions, fostering an ecosystem of user-generated content and real-time discussions across various topics. It generates revenue primarily through advertising, premium subscriptions, and data licensing.
Financials
Bull Case
TAM / CAGR
- Total Addressable Market (TAM): Estimated at $1 trillion (global digital advertising market)
- Expected CAGR (2024-2029): ~13%
Products & Revenue Breakdown
| Product / Service | % of Revenue |
|---|---|
| Digital Advertising | 92% |
| Reddit Premium (Subscription) | |
| Data Licensing |
Customers
Reddit serves a diverse user base, including:
- Advertisers: Brands looking to reach niche, engaged communities.
- Users: Over 100 million daily active unique users engaging in discussions across thousands of subreddits.
- Enterprises & Analysts: Purchasing data for trend analysis and AI training.
Competitors
nd company reports (sources cited per row).
| Rank | App | DAU | MAU | Avg time spent | Quick note / key regions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Facebook (Meta) | ~2.11 billion DAU. | ~3.07 billion MAU. | ~10 min/day (avg session estimates). | Global leader; very large user base in India, SE Asia, LATAM. Meta reports family-level Daily Active People ≈3.3B across its apps. |
| 2 | YouTube (Google) | ~120–125 million DAU (logged-in daily viewers — industry estimate). | ~2.5–2.7 billion MAU. | ~45–50 min/day watch time (avg). | Extremely high engagement; strongest markets: US, India, Brazil. |
| 3 | WhatsApp (Meta) | DAU not consistently broken out publicly — high daily engagement | ~3.0+ billion MAU (Meta confirmation Q1 2025). | Messaging — many daily sessions; minutes vary by market. | Ubiquitous in India, Latin America, Europe; strong private-messaging use. |
| 4 | Instagram (Meta) | ~500M DAU (industry estimates / aggregated reporting). | ~3.0 billion MAU reported by Meta (recent statements). | ~30–35 min/day (avg). | High Gen-Z penetration; Reels is the key engagement driver. |
| 5 | TikTok (ByteDance — global) | ~875–950 million DAU (analyst / industry estimate range). | Varies by definition (TikTok + Douyin split); global MAU estimates often exceed 1B when combined. | Very high — commonly >60 min/day for heavy users in key markets. | Short-video leader; Douyin (China) counted separately from TikTok. |
| 6 | WeChat (Tencent / China) | Tencent reports very high daily usage inside China; Tencent often reports DAU for WeChat/Weixin combined in quarterly filings (varies by report). | ~1.34 billion users (mostly China). | High daily engagement — built-in payments, mini-programs drive time. | Primarily China; super-app with payments, government services, commerce. |
| 7 | Telegram | ~450 million DAU (widely-cited industry estimate / Telegram reporting 2025). | ~1.0 billion MAU (TechCrunch/Telegram statements aggregated). | ~3h45m per month (~minutes/day vary by market). | Rapid growth in India, emerging markets; notable for public channels and encrypted messaging. |
| 8 | Snapchat | ~453–460 million DAU (company reports / Reuters summarizing Q1/Q4 2025 figures). | ~600+ million MAU (estimates; Snapchat primarily reports DAU). | ~30–40 min/day for core users (AR lenses, stories). | Very strong with teens/young adults; AR features and Snap Map are differentiators. |
| 9 | Pinterest emphasizes MAU over DAU; DAU publicly less highlighted — industry DAU estimates are lower than MAU. | ~553–578 million MAU (company / ad pages and 2025 estimates). | ~1.5 h/month (~~3 min/day avg) — users browse for discovery/shopping. | Strong e-commerce intent; skew toward female users and planners/shoppers. | |
| 10 | ~115 million DAU | ~850M–1.36B MAU (industry estimates vary; many cite ~1B+ monthly reach depending on metric). | Session length varies widely; heavy-engagement communities drive deep sessions (tens of minutes). | Community / forum model — high-intent, topic-focused engagement; strong international growth. |
Founding History
Reddit was founded in June 2005 by Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian, and Aaron Swartz while they were roommates at the University of Virginia. Initially, they wanted to build a mobile food-ordering app, but after a rejected pitch to Y Combinator, they pivoted to creating “the front page of the internet”—a site where users could submit links and vote them up or down.
The platform was built in just a few weeks in Boston, Massachusetts, and soon after, it gained traction among early internet communities. In October 2006, Condé Nast (the publisher of Wired) acquired Reddit for a reported $10 million, and the founders moved to San Francisco.
By 2011, Reddit had spun off as an independent company. Steve Huffman eventually left, but he returned as CEO in 2015, leading the platform through multiple rounds of funding, expansions, and the launch of new revenue streams such as advertising, Reddit Premium, and data licensing.
After raising over $1.3 billion in venture capital, Reddit went public in March 2024 under the ticker RDDT, marking a major milestone in its journey from a dorm-room idea to a publicly traded social media giant.
Invest Alpha 