The news: On top of being a prominent destination for community interaction and user-generated content, Reddit is becoming a search-led platform. The number of people searching on-site weekly has increased 30% YoY, CEO Steve Huffman announced on the company’s Q1 earnings call.

Search “is a great driver of retention [and] DAUs. The search team is, quite frankly, I think, doing a great job,” he said.

Reddit is expanding its search offerings and integrating AI. It’s testing an AI-powered shopping search function that combines community recommendations with products from shopping and ad partners.

The bigger picture: Reddit’s search function centers around ease of use and providing relevant content to queries, senior director of global product marketing Nishé Modoyan told EMARKETER in March.

“A core part of our strategy is to make sure that we’re helping [a consumer] get to whatever it is that she needs to get to as effectively and quickly as possible,” she said. Contextual relevance helps Reddit surface higher-intent queries, strengthening its position as a platform where discovery, research, and purchase decisions overlap.

Why it matters: Reddit’s ad business is growing rapidly, with ad revenues totaling $625 million in Q1 2026—up a whopping 74% YoY. That development is likely supported by the launch of its Dynamic Product Ads in May 2025.

We expect its global ad revenues will grow 57.6% this year to $2.92 billion. That double-digit growth will continue through 2028, we forecast, but will decline to 27.7%.

And while Reddit captures a significantly smaller global share of ad revenues than its social network peers, its thriving search activity is surfacing high-intent users—making it a more effective channel for reaching consumers during active product research and decision-making.

Implications for marketers: As Reddit integrates AI- and recommendation-driven search with commerce, it’s moving closer to a model where user intent determines advertising value, giving marketers a rare opportunity to capture high-consideration consumers before the platform fully matures.

That dynamic makes Reddit particularly valuable for marketers looking to engage consumers at the point of purchase as well as throughout extended research and evaluation phases.

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