Reddit is testing a new way to drive user engagement via audio and/or video summaries of in-app conversations.
As shown in this sequence, which was highlighted by The Verge, Reddit’s new experiment will give users access to a new kind of post, which uses artificial intelligence to animate and voice summary clips.
The audio aspect is powered by AI voice simulation, which could be a little jarring, especially given the simulation’s sometimes misplaced emphasis and cadence. But the idea is that this will provide users with another means to engage with Reddit content, which also leans into emerging consumption behaviors.
Like all platforms, Reddit has seen a significant rise in video use of late.
In the platform’s Q2 earnings call, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said video replies, which it added earlier this year, have been a big success for the platform, with more than 10% of all video posts in the app now coming from replies.
Huffman also pointed to future opportunities in driving video engagement.“The other thing we’re working on is just a video Reddit experience, so letting users not just watch video on Reddit, but listen to posts, background listen to posts,” Huffman said. “We see folks doing this off-platform. There’s an emerging content type elsewhere in the internet of basically, a podcast where people read Reddit content. And so I think this version of, like, listened to, or spoken, Reddit can be really engaging as well.”
This new format builds on that as Reddit looks to tap into the way that people are using content off the platform in order to drive more in-app engagement.
Reddit told TechCrunch that the feature is being released in limited testing at this stage, on selected English-language posts.
