[JohnFen]

> Instead of ads, businesses post bounties for specific content and metrics they want to see borne out (e.g., an engaging Reddit comment that mentioning my business and has at least 100 upvotes).

That's not "instead of ads" at all, it's just paying for the product placement form of ads.

[graerg]

I should have said “traditional ads” but yes you’re right. Product placement is one of many use cases. You could also sponsor bounties with more general requirements in order to drive engagement in a particular sector, or incentivize comments with a particular sentiment (e.g., I have a bounty for encouraging comments on hobbyist subreddits).