Whether it’s the inside story on Zepto’s work culture, or a British tourist’s take on India’s infrastructure, or the latest ‘tea’ on Bollywood celebrities, many of these viral discussions on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) are increasingly spillovers from someplace else. That’s Reddit, which is slowly but steadily becoming the social media platform of choice for Indian users.
According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, the Reddit app averaged 3.8 million monthly active users (MAUs) and 1.3 million daily active users (DAUs) in India in 2024 (till December 17). This was an almost 20 per cent growth from 2023, when the app saw 3.2 million MAUs and 1.1 million DAUs. In comparison, X had roughly 25 million MAUs, as of April 2024. Reddit saw over 3.5 million downloads in India in 2024 and averaged top 3 ranking on the Apple App Store under the ‘news’ category.
Long popular with Americans, it is now catching the attention of Indians as a forum for in-depth discussions on various topics within dedicated communities (called subreddits). Internal data from January 1 to November 30, 2024, shared by Reddit with businessline, shows the platform’s usage in India was dominated by two favourite topics — Bollywood and cricket.
So, alongside r/bollyblindsngossip and r/cricket, among the top subreddits in India during this period (based on screen views) was r/india (a community for all things uniquely India). The platform is also drawing more techies and the programming community with r/developersindia growing 53 per cent year-on-year. Reddit management noted in its recent earnings report that international DAUs grew 44 per cent year-on-year, led by 53 per cent growth in the “focus markets, most notably in France, India, and the Philippines”.
The backstory
Founded by Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian and Aaron Swartz in 2005, the social network’s feed consists of user-generated posts, photos, and videos in the form of discussion groups, and it is available as an app and on a website. Reddit was first acquired by Condé Nast Publications in 2006. In 2011, it became an independent subsidiary of Condé Nast’s parent company. Private funding from the likes of Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and Fidelity Investments followed. The platform stormed into global spotlight in 2021 when a community of small-time retail traders called r/WallStreetBets sent the stock price of gaming company GameStop soaring. Gaming enthusiasts had set out to take on the institutional investors and hedge funds that had shorted the stock. Reddit went public in Marchat $34 per share. As of December, it was trading at $168.6 per share.
Community interaction is a key attraction for Indians, who typically love to get together and chat. Reddit also keeps user identity anonymous, which lowers the threat of trolling. Moreover, unlike in other networks that populate the feed with irrelevant information due to algorithms, here the discussion is focused.
Ramit Mehrotra, a media student in Pune, says Reddit is an escape from the “madness” of X and Instagram. “I wanted no unnecessary spat and noise on my feed. I wanted access to more memes and entertaining stuff, as these often go viral on, and from Reddit,” he says. “It’s as if Quora, Tumblr and Pinterest were mixed together.”
“You choose what you want to consume. There are no suggested posts,” he adds.
Brand presence
However, despite a similarity with Quora, Reddit has not been able to catch the eye of businesses yet, say experts. Unlike Instagram and X, it does not have a definite positioning among Indian users, they add.
“Instagram is more travel/food, X for news and venting, Quora for knowledge, YouTube for infotainment. Reddit needs to position itself more starkly if it wants its user base to explode in India,” says Nimesh Shah, head maven, Windchimes Communications. “Having said that, any brand that has a fan base and talk points (cars, bikes, photography, electronics like gaming laptops, and so on) should initiate presence on Reddit,” he adds.
Vikas Chawla, co-founder of digital marketing agency Social Beat, says his firm is testing the waters on Reddit for a few brands and that it has potential for lead generation, on the lines of Quora. “For now, brands can run ads or do marketing by integrating content, like how one would use Quora. But Reddit’s creator/influencer ecosystem is not very robust yet in India,” he adds.
The coming year will see Reddit hone its localisation strategy. The platform announced recently that it is rolling out machine-learning translation to 35 new countries. This is already live in France and will soon go live in Brazil and Spain.
Redditors are considered to be the most tech-savvy, curious and creative bunch among social media users. Also the most argumentative. Will their tribe grow in 2025? Stay tuned.
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