Reddit is significantly expanding its interest targeting categories for advertisers.

The platform is increasing its current offering from 66 to 152, with additional topics and subjects also set to be rolled out in the coming weeks.

Why we care. The expansion will create more opportunities for brands to serve ads to relevant audiences, which could improve reach and campaign performance. With the holiday season on the horizon, now may be the ideal time to start experimenting and see which interest categories are most effective for your ads.

What is interest targeting? Reddit interest targeting shows your ads to people based on what they are interested in. Instead of you having to figure out what Reddit communities or subreddits are relevant to your ads, the platform does that work for you.

Simply pick interests from Reddit’s list that match what your ad is about, and the platform will automatically serve your campaign to relevant audiences based on that data.

When is the expansion happening? Reddit has not given a specific timeframe but has confirmed that the update is being rolled out to advertisers over the next few weeks. When granted access, you should see the update in new and existing ad groups.

What has Reddit said? A spokesperson for Reddit explained:

• “Interest targeting is our most popular form of targeting. That’s why we’re providing you with more control and transparency of your ad targeting and expanding the number of interests available to target.”
• “We have made interests more granular, and broke many interests into multiple new interests. These new interests shouldn’t have any significant effect on your targeting, but if you want to revisit your targeting, you can edit your ad groups.
• “For additional reach, consider enabling expansion, increasing bids, or pairing with additional relevant interest groups or communities.”

Deep dive. Read Reddit’s announcement in full for more information.