[vita17]

This is the end of Reddit. They can’t monetize the web version of their site because their users are sophisticated enough to use ad blockers. If they load up their mobile app with ads, people will just use a 3rd party Reddit app. So they’ll have to ban 3rd party apps which will betray all the users who got into Reddit because it was an open platform.

[optimusclimb]

> They can’t monetize the web version of their site because their users are sophisticated enough to use ad blockers.

I think you've over generalizing a bit - I think we've gotten to the point where reddit is fairly "mainstream." My bet is there are plenty of reddit users out there not using ad blockers.

There was a time when playing multi-player FPS games against other people on the internet was a "fringe activity" probably mostly enjoyed by a very small subset of the population. Now 40 year old I-bankers blow off steam playing Halo. I think reddit has just about gotten to that level.

[cantrip]

I think you're projecting sophistication because you use an ad blocker and mostly peruse the subreddits you explicitly subscribe to.

If you take a look at /r/popular it's mostly nonsense. The majority of reddit are looking at cute animals and memes about tv, movies, and video games.

[vita17]

Relatively sophisticated. No matter how mainstream Reddit becomes, the average user is always going to be more tech savy than the average reader at cnn.com, for example. Therefore, because ad blockers are a problem for traditional publications, they’re certainly a problem for Reddit.

[pavel_lishin]

> This is the end of Reddit.

People have been proclaiming the end of Reddit since before Digg's downfall.

[EGreg]

And that was the end of Digg.

[zbentley]

> their users are sophisticated enough to use ad blockers

Do you have a source for that? I don't find it impossible to believe, but that's a pretty bold claim. I'm sure a lot of people use ad blockers, but how does that number compare to total user volume? And how does it break down (engaged users, infrequent visitors, etc.)?

[ohtwenty]

I think it's important to note, as mentioned in the article, just how much more mainstream Reddit is becoming. And along with that, less tech-savvy users less likely to use adblockers. I'd love to see some numbers on this too!

[austenallred]

I spend a lot of money advertising on Reddit. It does great. I’m extremely happy.

[gsylvie]

What are you advertising? I'm thinking of running ads there for my Bitbucket add-on.

[adtac]

Selling upvotes without marking posts as 'promoted' is an option if they badly need a way to sustain. But I'm pretty sure most of the userbase (including me) would leave if this was made public.

[ihuman]

> They can’t monetize the web version of their site because their users are sophisticated enough to use ad blockers

Or I just pay for Reddit Gold, which removes ads (among other features).

[rplnt]

Is there no market for all the data they have? Some statistical API on user behavior, for market research for example.