The NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA TOUR, and NASCAR to bring content to Reddit communities alongside new advertising opportunities
Announcements Staff • July 22, 2024July 22, 2024
Every day, we are focused on making Reddit the best platform for people to engage with communities of shared interests. We do this by delivering new ways for people and businesses to enjoy and contribute to conversations on Reddit. Today, we are excited to announce a partnership program to enhance the fan experience on Reddit. This program taps major sports leagues and aims to bring more of the content that fans love to Reddit’s passionate communities while also creating opportunities for advertisers to align with this content via video ads, AMAs, and other formats.
The major sports leagues are some of our most engaged Reddit Pro users and best-in-class examples of the power of engagement within Reddit communities. In addition, sports are one of Reddit’s most popular and fastest-growing (at +26% YOY) interest groups, bringing together highly engaged fans across over 1000 communities (1). It’s therefore not surprising that our first program partners include some of the biggest US sports leagues that have global audiences: the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), the PGA TOUR, and National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).
Ready…set…[dis]play!
We believe these new partnerships can enhance our community experience with content that fans want while enabling advertisers to align with expanded fan content on Reddit. Through our official partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA TOUR, and NASCAR, redditors will gain access to video highlights from games and tournaments, player AMAs, behind-the-scenes videos, and more special content posted by the leagues throughout their seasons and including during major events like Super Bowl and NBA All-Star.
Reddit advertisers can align their brands to these communities and content experiences just like Samsung, Ford, Volkswagen of America and several others did as part of our initial test with the NFL during the 2023-24 season. During the test, an alcoholic beverage brand saw a +11.3 point lift in purchase intent, a +9.4 point lift in brand favorability, and a 5.9 point lift in awareness by activating alongside premium video content from the NFL (2).
“Reddit is the go-to destination for sports fans around the world because it’s the place where they can dive deeper than anywhere else, and connect with other fans beyond the season and throughout the year,” said Reddit’s Chief Operating Officer, Jen Wong. “The country’s major sports leagues see the opportunity to reach global audiences on Reddit. We’re continuing to build more ways for businesses and organizations to engage with Reddit’s communities; this benefits our communities, program partners, and advertisers.”
Starting with sports
Much like Reddit, sports are a universal passion that bring together people from all walks of life. It’s therefore not surprising that more than half of Reddit users believe our platform allows them to be a “bigger sports fan,” and provide camaraderie they can’t find elsewhere. What’s more, the majority of sports followers believe ‘sports culture’ is just as important as the game itself (3). Whether we’re a second screen during match time or a launchpad for connecting beyond games and outside of seasons, Reddit’s communities fuel fandom and take it to the next level. It’s why sports communities on Reddit continue to deliver a valuable audience across a wide variety of advertising verticals; from food & beverage to automotive brands, and why sports is a natural starting point for this partnership program.
When it comes to sports fandom on Reddit, our numbers speak for themselves:
Over 1,000 active communities in the Sports category (4)
20.4B screenviews to communities in the Sports category in the last 12 months (5) (up 26% YoY (1))
249M global monthly engagements (posts, votes, comments) in Sports communities on Reddit (5)
But with more than 100,000 communities on Reddit, there are many other highly engaged fan communities, both globally and in other topical areas such as entertainment and lifestyle, that could be opportunities for similar content programs.
Building a Reddit Legacy
A Reddit Pro early adopter, the NFL deeply understands the value of Reddit’s audience and the power of our communities. During the 2023–24 season alone, r/NFL grew by over 3 million subscribers as a result of the league’s authentic engagement and close partnership with the community (6).
As Reddit’s longest-standing sports partner, the NFL has been an active participant on Reddit since 2019 and our first test partner for this program. In addition to advertisers aligning with NFL video content last season, the NFL also hosted its first Live Pro Bowl AMA session in r/NFL with participating Pro Bowl players answering questions live during the game from a dedicated Reddit space on the field. More recently, the NFL hosted a Schedule Release AMA to keep fan excitement up during the off-season. Building on this growth, the NFL is renewing its partnership with Reddit to bring additional content – via video highlights and AMAs – to Reddit NFL communities.
“Building on five years of incredible collaboration, the NFL believes in the power of Reddit to enhance the fan experience,” said NFL VP of Business Development and Strategic Investments, Brent Lawton. “By renewing our partnership, we can continue engaging with Reddit’s growing NFL fan base and provide powerful content to advertisers looking for an NFL audience.”
This partnership program is a way to test and explore new ways to connect fans with special content from the most significant leagues, businesses, and organizations to our communities of dedicated sports and entertainment fans. To learn more, please contact us.
Source: Reddit Internal Data, Global, Jul 2023–Jun 2024 vs Jul 2022–Jun 2023
Source: Kantar Brand Lift Study, 2024
Source: Sports Fandom via Attest, U.S. (n=1,000)
Source: Brandwatch, Global, Jul 2022–Jun 2024
Source: Reddit Internal Data, Global, Jul 2023–Jun 2024
Source: Reddit internal, 2023-2024
