The human touch: Inside Reddit’s pitch to Australian advertisers

Before buying a car, people can read the specifications, watch the ads, and ask AI for a summary. Sharb Farjami reckons there’s still one question those answers can’t settle: what’s it like to drive?

“You don't know if that car is as good as the advertiser says, or as the AI answer says it is. Unless you speak to someone who's driven that car,” Reddit’s VP, Global Agency & Partnerships, tells Mediaweek.

That’s the argument Farjami and Tom Tilney are taking to Australian advertisers. Reddit has an automated ad product in Max campaigns, but its pitch begins with the people who use the platform to ask questions, compare products and challenge claims.

Max chooses audience, creative and placement combinations for each impression, and adjusts bidding as a campaign runs. Advertisers supply the assets and campaign goals. Reddit launched the product in limited beta for selected traffic and conversion advertisers in January.

“We're having a good run in Australia with Reddit. It's a growing platform, and that growth in Australia has been really healthy,” Farjami says. “We feel very supported by the agency and the client community.”

READ MORE: How Kia cracked Reddit: inside the Tasman campaign that delivered standout results

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Get in before the brief

Tilney, Reddit’s senior agency development lead in Australia, wants brands and agencies to start with the conversations. What are people asking about a category? Which product claims do they doubt? Where are competitors falling short?

“We're very much a partner that can start their relationship with a brand or an agency well and truly before the brief, because of the richness of those insights,” he says.

Tilney says those findings can shape the campaign itself. Reddit offers platform and category takeovers for reach, conversation ads that appear alongside relevant discussions, and Max for traffic and conversions.

He also sees people using Reddit to check what they’ve seen promoted elsewhere.

“You're almost coming to Reddit to de-influence and have confidence in products before you go ahead and make that purchase,” Tilney says.

Brands can advertise near those discussions. They don’t control what people say there, which is why a recommendation there may carry weight.

The results so far

Reddit says Max delivered an average 17% lower cost per action and 27% more conversions across 17 split tests conducted between June and August 2025. The tests compared Max with advertisers’ usual campaigns using similar targeting and creative. The figures are Reddit’s own results from a limited set of tests.

In a 21-day campaign for Brooks Running’s Ghost 17 shoe, Reddit says Max produced 27% more clicks at a 37% lower cost per click, without manual campaign changes.

As the software takes over more campaign decisions, advertisers will want to know what drove those results. Reddit says Max reporting will show creative performance and which audience personas responded.

Farjami says the findings can be useful beyond the campaign.

“It's more than just a buy. It's a way to kind of fuel your strategic approach.”

A place to check the claim

Redditor Highlights, a separate ad product, brings relevant user perspectives beneath a brand’s creative. It gives advertisers a way to show what people are saying about a product, although those comments have to exist in the first place.

Tilney says brands should spend time listening before entering a community. He describes the approach as “listening, learning, and launching into the community in the right way.”

Farjami returns to the car buyer. An AI answer might save them time, but he argues that an account from someone who has driven the car answers a different need.

“But you want to hear from people who have driven that car, and that’s what the community is there for - it offers a lived experience.”

Max may decide which ad to serve. Farjami and Tilney are betting that what happens around the ad, in the questions and answers between users, will give brands a reason to spend.