Reddit has entered discussions with Google and OpenAI about restructuring future content-sharing agreements to capture greater value as its data becomes increasingly vital for artificial intelligence applications.
The social media platform seeks to move beyond traditional licensing arrangements toward partnerships that encourage user engagement and support dynamic pricing structures, reports Bloomberg.
Reddit proposes deals where compensation increases as its content becomes more essential to AI responses, marking a shift from fixed-rate agreements currently in place. The company believes existing terms fail to reflect the true value of its data to AI platforms.
Current licensing agreements with Google and OpenAI, alongside other deals, generate $203 million in contract value over two to three years according to Reddit’s initial public offering documentation. The original Google agreement reportedly cost $60 million when struck in early 2024.
The discussions focus on deeper integration with Google’s AI products, aiming to convert search traffic into active Reddit contributors rather than one-time visitors seeking specific answers.
“We’re midflight in our data licensing deals and still learning, but what we have seen is that Reddit data is highly cited and valued,” said Reddit chief operating officer Jen Wong during an investor call in July. “We’ll continue to evaluate as we go.”
Reddit’s unique discussion format covering niche topics and human experiences provides valuable training material for large language models powering ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini assistant. Analytics company Profound AI identifies Reddit among the most frequently cited sources across AI platforms.
The content licensing sector faces increasing legal challenges as publishers pursue copyright infringement cases. Reddit itself has sued Anthropic over alleged unauthorised data scraping, while The New York Times and Penske Media have filed similar actions against OpenAI and Google respectively.
Anthropic recently agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle one of the largest copyright disputes in US history with a group of authors.
OpenAI has established licensing partnerships with major publishers including Axel Springer, Time and Condé Nast to legally access content for ChatGPT training and responses.
Reddit executives noted that Google traffic provides limited conversion value, as users seeking specific answers rarely become active community participants. The company now engages with Google product teams to identify methods for driving deeper user engagement within Reddit’s forum ecosystem.
