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Reddit Rides on Strong Ad Growth: Can It Outpace META and SNAP?

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Key Takeaways

  • Reddit's ad revenues surged 54% to $847 million in Q3 2026, fueled by higher pricing and impressions.
  • Reddit Max adoption more than tripled sequentially, while international ad revenues jumped 68% in Q3.
  • RDDT shares have plunged 57.1% year to date, despite strong ad growth and improving earnings estimates.

Reddit (RDDT - Free Report) is benefiting from robust advertising demand, improving monetization, AI-driven ad enhancements and growing adoption of its performance advertising solutions. The company’s investments in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and advertising automation are strengthening its competitive position against Meta Platforms (META - Free Report) and Snap (SNAP - Free Report) , which are also investing heavily in AI-powered advertising technologies to attract advertisers and improve engagement.

Reddit’s advertising momentum remained impressive in the third quarter of 2026. Advertising revenues surged 54% year over year to $847 million, supported by higher pricing and impressions. Total revenues increased 53% to $895 million. Click volumes grew more than 50%, while conversion volumes more than tripled, highlighting improvements in advertising effectiveness.

The company’s expanding advertiser ecosystem is another significant growth driver. In the third quarter of 2026, Scaled advertising revenues increased more than 80% year over year, while mid-market active advertisers grew more than 50%. International advertising revenues jumped 68%, outpacing 51% growth in the United States. Shopping and app-install advertising objectives each recorded more than 95% growth, reflecting strong demand for performance-oriented solutions.

Reddit’s AI-powered advertising solution, Reddit Max, is emerging as a key growth driver. The platform entered public beta in the third quarter, with advertiser adoption more than tripling sequentially. Enhanced machine-learning models, real-time signals and improved targeting capabilities are helping advertisers achieve better campaign performance. The company also expanded shopping capabilities to support up to 20 million products. Shopping and app-install advertising objectives each registered more than 95% year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter of 2026, highlighting strong demand for lower-funnel solutions.

Reddit’s improving monetization, expanding international presence and AI-powered advertising capabilities position it favorably for sustained growth and further strengthen its position against Meta Platforms and Snap in the digital ad market. For the fourth quarter of 2026, management expects revenues between $1 billion and $1.03 billion. The midpoint represents approximately 40% year-over-year growth.

How Competitors Fare Against RDDT

Despite Reddit’s expanding portfolio, the company faces stiff competition from Meta Platforms and Snap. Both companies are also expanding their footprint in the rapidly growing digital ad market.

Meta Platforms is benefiting from strong advertising demand and improving monetization. In the third quarter of 2026, Meta Platforms reported advertising revenues of $63.1 billion, up 26% year over year. Total ad impressions increased 10%, while the average price per ad rose 14%, reflecting improving advertising performance and engagement. Meta Platforms’ Family of Apps reached 3.64 billion daily active people, highlighting its extensive advertising reach. 

SNAP is benefiting from strong direct-response advertising demand, improved AI-powered ad targeting and expanding monetization opportunities across Snapchat. In the third quarter of 2026, Snap’s advertising revenues grew 4% year over year, supported by robust performance in app and web purchase campaigns. App purchase revenues surged more than 54%, while web purchase revenues increased 11%. Sponsored Snaps revenues jumped 56% sequentially, reflecting growing advertiser adoption.

RDDT’s Share Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

RDDT shares have plunged 57.1% year to date, underperforming the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector’s 7.2% appreciation and the Internet - Software industry’s 2.7% decline.

RDDT Stock Performance

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

RDDT shares are currently cheap, with a forward 12-month Price/Sales of 4.48X compared with the Computer & Technology sector’s 4.98X. RDDT has a Value Score of B.

RDDT Valuation

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings is pegged at $5.42 per share, which has increased 2.84% over the past 30 days. This suggests 106.87% year-over-year growth.

Reddit Inc. Price and Consensus

Reddit Inc. Price and Consensus

Reddit Inc. price-consensus-chart | Reddit Inc. Quote

RDDT currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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