Reddit reported third-quarter advertising revenue of $847 million, up 54% year over year, and told shareholders that falling search referrals could pull fourth-quarter daily users down by a low-double-digit percentage if the October trend continues.
The figures come from Reddit’s Q3 2026 shareholder letter, filed with the SEC on October 29. Total revenue was $895 million, up 53%, with advertising growth driven by pricing and impressions. Daily Active Uniques (DAUq) rose 12% to 130.3 million, with U.S. DAUq down 2% and International DAUq up 24%. The letter reports strength across the ad funnel, particularly the lower funnel, in verticals including Travel and B2C Services. It also says Reddit Max campaigns reached general availability, adding Advertising API access and a Smartly integration.
The search referral line
The letter says search referral traffic “was down meaningfully in Q3, with the decline accelerating later in the quarter,” with the biggest effect on logged-out and web traffic. It adds that during October search traffic dropped by more than 1 million referrals on average per week, and that “current trends would suggest that total DAUqs could fall in Q4, by a low-double-digit percentage from our current base of 130 million DAUqs” if the rate of decline continues.
Reddit’s response is to concentrate on logged-in and app users. The letter says they make up the vast majority of engagement and over 80% of monetization, and that both grew sequentially in the quarter.
Why it matters
Advertisers buying Reddit placements are paying for a base that the company itself says is shifting toward logged-in and app audiences. Reach that came from search arrivals is the part at risk, and the letter says it is the logged-out audience that has taken most of the hit. That bears on how a planner reads impression counts and reach forecasts for the fourth quarter.
One practical step
Ask your Reddit rep for fourth-quarter reach and frequency estimates split by logged-in, app and logged-out traffic, and compare any campaign forecast made before October against current delivery. The same referral pressure shows up on the Google side, which our reports on AI Mode ads and Google’s search revenue and AI Overviews coverage of commercial keywords cover.
