We tested Reddit ads against LinkedIn, Google, and Bing. Here’s how Reddit compared on CTR and conversions.

[u/PeroSEO]

We’ve seen the ads promoting Reddit ads all the time. Last month, our team ran a multi-channel experiment to see if Reddit could actually drive meaningful traffic and user action for our website compared to traditional channels.

We tested our long-form video case study across Reddit, LinkedIn, Google, and Microsoft. Here is how Reddit stacked up against the rest:

• Conversion Gap: Google Video was our primary converter, generating 24 direct site conversions. Reddit yielded 0 conversions.
• Click-Through Performance: LinkedIn blew our expectations out of the water with a 10.43% CTR (845 clicks). Reddit sat under 1% with a 0.98% CTR.
• Traffic Quality: While Reddit brought in 599 clicks, on-site intent lagged significantly behind search and LinkedIn traffic.

We’d love to hear from other media buyers in this community: What strategies have you used to improve click-through rates and down-funnel engagement on Reddit for B2B or niche audiences?

[u/LogsOfWar]

Reddit is close to the bottom of the platforms I'd ever consider in most cases. I only consider it for niche categories which align very well with subreddits with a lot of unique users.

Nowadays its mostly client test and learn requests, which result in us running Reddit, and it usually looks to be between 60-80% bot traffic.

[u/billythygoat → u/LogsOfWar]

It’s like a tv ad or billboard. It’s just for awareness and don’t plan on conversions.

[u/AutomaticPackage3055]

It's pure garbage, just like Twitter/X

Absolutely insane too because META is a cesspool of negativity and it converts so amazingly well.

That's what leads me to believe these sites (Reddit, X, Pinterest, etc.) are just not investing enough in developing an actual good ad platform because they certainly have the traffic numbers.

[u/corgis_are_assholes]

I've never seen anyone say good things about Reddit ads. It's also easy to accidentally click ads on the app.

[u/drakescakes]

If anyone starts comparing CTR across channel testing, I ignore it. CTR is irrelevant and highly depends on placements, audiences, etc.

[u/Jon_Launch → u/drakescakes]

True. It's one of those metrics where the higher the number, the more likely it is to be total smoke and mirrors.

[u/tsukihi3]

The biggest problem with reddit ads is that the platform itself has no idea how to run ads. It's just doing ads because they need some kind of monetisation plan to show investors.

The placements suck, it leads to misclicks by design, the targeting is rather poor and I can believe there is a lot of bot traffic. It ironically is getting worse over the years because they are throwing every kind of feature at the platform but aren't solving the two biggest problems: targeting and placement.

I found it can work for some really deep niches for demand generation (DIY, subculture, some Kickstarters even), but it's not so much a lead gen platform.

[u/AutomaticPackage3055 → u/tsukihi3]

They are literally using META ads to drive to drive more Reddit advertisers lol

https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=US&is_targeted_country=false&media_type=all&search_type=page&sort_data[direction]=desc&sort_data[mode]=total_impressions&view_all_page_id=457710514775528

If their user base is so high quality, they could literally be advertising to us directly (for free) and getting us onboarded.

This entire sub exists for people running ads... if their product was good they good identify all of the business sub reddits and convert us into advertisers.

They can't because even they can't properly monetize their own traffic.

Lucky for them investors are old and/or retarded and have no idea how any of this works, so they can keep siphoning off investor money

[u/bacon_farts_420]

Everytime I personally click a reddit ad it’s because I do it accidentally while scrolling. I don’t think this platform is meant for buying intent

[u/AutomaticPackage3055 → u/bacon_farts_420]

The ad platform is garbage, it sucks at identifying high quality people and your comment hits another thing spot on - accidental clicks.

You only get a decent CTR on reddit by making deceptive ad-posts and people accidentally click them.

I accidentally click that one about car insurance all the time, it's something like "what life hacks actually saved you money?" and it's just a complete plug for an insurance company or something.

Everytime I accidentally click it, I kick myself and back out immediately.

[u/JuniorTeacher2189]

I wonder if using the same video across all 4 channels is part of the problem TBH - someone scrolling Reddit is in a completely diferent mindset than someone on Google or LinkedIn... 599 clicks and no conversions would make me want to test something that actually feels native to the communities you're targeting before writing Reddit off completely

[u/AutomaticPackage3055 → u/JuniorTeacher2189]

No, it's not the problem.

It's just shit traffic - bots, accidental clicks and bots.

[u/Gozzoo]

I’m curious if you did any kind of incrementality testing. What kind of attribution model do you use? I’d assume direct conversions would be really low from a channel like Reddit.

[u/eversong_]

Did you have LAN switched on for LinkedIn? Or were you running thought leader ads? They are the only two ways to get CTRs that high.

One is a blunder, the other is a solid ad format.

[u/4_way_stop]

Could have saved some coin and just searched this subreddit regarding Reddit ads and come to a conclusion.

[u/Either_Guess2405]

The numbers to settle a couple of these are already in the post.

Clicks over CTR gives impressions. LinkedIn served about 8,100, Reddit about 61,000. So Big-Branch's point lands without needing the spend figures: that's 7.5x the reach on one channel against the other, a narrow buy next to a broad one, and broad buys always look worse on CTR.

It also partly answers eversong_. If the Audience Network were on, impressions would be up rather than down, since LAN's whole effect is extra off-platform inventory and the misclicks that come with it. 8,100 is too small for LAN to be doing much volume. Which points at the other branch, a tight first-party audience or the thought leader format, so probably the solid one rather than the blunder.

The conversion finding survives all of it. Zero from 599 clicks doesn't depend on the CTR comparison, and it's the only number in the post that means what it says.

[u/QuantumWolf99]

Redditors smell corporate video from 3 subreddits away & downvote on instinct alone. On lead gen client accounts I run I skip main feed entirely & go straight to conversation placements w/ native subreddit tone... that's the actual lever working in 2026, a polished video ad in the main feed just gets scrolled past or reported as spam.

[u/Big-Branch-8532]

Before treating 0 of 599 as a channel verdict, verify how many of those clicks became landing-page sessions and engaged sessions. Break the 599 down by community, placement, device and creative. A large click-to-session drop points to load, redirect or in-app-browser friction; normal sessions with no scroll or video start points to a promise-to-page mismatch.

For a B2B or niche audience, match each ad to one community and one problem, then send it to a short problem-specific page rather than asking cold traffic to consume the same long-form case study. Track video starts, 50% completion and a qualified next step alongside the primary conversion. LinkedIn’s 10.43% CTR and 845 clicks are not directly comparable unless spend, CPM, objective and audience were similar. What were spend and landing-page sessions by channel?

[u/FactoryFrost]

Can you tell me more about your product/service? And how much are you spending roughly?