CEO Steve Huffman signaled this shift during the company's July earnings call, noting that third-party creators frequently repackage Reddit text into viral clips using text-to-speech software. The new experimental feature, debuting Monday on iOS and Android, offers a 'play' option alongside the standard 'read' button for select English-language communities. Users can consume these narrated stories while multitasking, effectively turning long-form discussions into passive media.
In section Startups & Technology
Reddit pivots to audio-video feeds to reclaim viral content
Reddit is launching a test of video and audio-narrated posts, an attempt to capture the engagement currently siphoned off by TikTok and Reels creators. By allowing users to listen to threads in the background, the platform aims to integrate the popular ‘spoken Reddit’ format directly into its own native mobile experience.
Reddit maintains that these formats are additive rather than transformative. The original text-only posts and comment sections remain fully accessible, ensuring that the core community experience is not eclipsed by the multimedia experiments. While the company has previously rolled out native video hosting and comment-based video support, this latest initiative marks a more aggressive move to own the consumption of its content. These limited tests will determine if the platform can replicate the authenticity of user-generated trends without alienating its text-focused user base.
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