The news: Reddit is testing audio and video features that make its text content more interactive and let users engage with posts while multitasking. This includes a “video Reddit experience” where users can listen to Reddit posts in the background through an AI narration feature, per TechCrunch.

The multimedia offerings take advantage of behavior that’s already happening elsewhere—users and creators have long repackaged Reddit posts into narrated TikTok and YouTube videos.

• Bringing that format to the Reddit platform lets it capture engagement—and ad dollars—that is currently going to other platforms.
• Reddit could also grow its ad inventory if audio and video formats drive longer sessions.

The new formats are available on English-language posts through Reddit’s iOS and Android apps and won’t replace original, text-only posts.

Why it matters: Reddit’s push into audio and video adds more surfaces it can monetize and ways users can engage. It’s also another tactic to compete with podcasts, TikTok, and Reels that doesn’t require users to create entirely new content.

Reddit needs to make adjustments to address its time-spent plateau, which we expect will remain at 9 minutes per day through 2027 in the US, and the new features could help the platform boost engagement without abandoning its text-first identity.

But not all users have responded positively to the news. Comments on the site include: “If people wanted TikTok, they could just have TikTok” and “There goes the neighbourhood.”

Implications for marketers: Reddit could become a more versatile complement to social video if it can layer multimedia formats onto the high-intent text content that differentiates it. That could help brands reach audiences in more ways around interest-based niches and conversations and open Reddit up to more immersive campaigns.

However, brands should watch and see if Reddit’s reputation and identity shifts as it tries to copy features from TikTok and Reels, or whether it loses one of its key assets: community-driven, authentic content. If audio and video push Reddit toward feeling like a generic short-form experience—or if AI voices feel disingenuous or artificial—it could dilute the environment that has made the platform valuable to advertisers to begin with.