As search traffic dries up, Reddit announces it’s shifting to a logged-in experience

Reddit announced on its third-quarter earnings call that it is transitioning to a primarily logged-in experience, a move designed to protect its data from AI scraping and support licensing deals with model providers. The shift comes as search traffic referrals fell by more than 1 million per week on average in October, and it affects anyone who reaches Reddit through search rather than an account.

What happened

• The company said search traffic referrals dropped by more than 1 million referrals on average per week in October.

Key changes

• Reddit is rethinking its relationship with the open internet as search traffic dries up amid the shift to AI-powered search.

Why it matters

• Logged-in users provide more signals about their interests and behaviors, which helps Reddit better target and personalize ads and could boost revenue.

Important details

• Revenue increased 53% year-over-year to $895 million, ahead of Wall Street's expectations of about $875 million; net income rose 74% to $283 million.
• Advertising revenue grew 54% to $847 million, while nonadvertising revenue, which includes AI data-licensing, grew 35% year-over-year to $48 million.
• Average revenue per daily active user in the U.S. rose 53% to $13.82 despite the 2% year-over-year decline in U.S. daily users; globally it increased 36% year-over-year to $6.87.

News · TechCrunch AI · Publisher website: techcrunch.com · Last verified 31 October 2026 · Catalog ID 127991