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Reddit5 min read

What Are Reddit Ad Specs? Formats, Sizes, and Targeting Options

Neil Ruaro·Founder, Conbersa
·
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Reddit ad specs are the technical requirements and format guidelines that advertisers must follow when creating paid campaigns on the Reddit Ads platform. These specifications cover image dimensions, video formats, character limits, file sizes, and targeting parameters across Reddit's available ad placements, including feed ads, conversation ads, and product ads.

Reddit's advertising platform has grown significantly. According to Reddit's Q4 2024 earnings report, the platform reached over 97 million daily active users, making it one of the largest untapped advertising channels for brands looking to reach engaged, niche communities.

What Ad Formats Does Reddit Offer?

Reddit provides several distinct ad formats, each with its own specifications and use cases.

Image Ads

Image ads are the most straightforward Reddit ad format. They appear in the feed alongside organic posts and include a headline, optional body text, and a single image.

Image specifications:

  • Recommended dimensions: 1200 x 628 pixels (landscape) or 1080 x 1080 pixels (square)
  • Minimum dimensions: 400 x 300 pixels
  • File formats: JPG, PNG
  • Maximum file size: 20 MB
  • Headline: up to 300 characters
  • Body text: optional, up to 300 characters

Video Ads

Video ads autoplay in the Reddit feed with sound off by default. They are effective for product demonstrations, brand storytelling, and driving engagement.

Video specifications:

  • File formats: MP4, MOV
  • Maximum file size: 1 GB
  • Maximum length: 15 minutes (15-30 seconds recommended)
  • Aspect ratios: 16:9, 1:1, 4:5
  • Minimum resolution: 720p
  • Thumbnail: auto-generated or custom upload
  • Captions: strongly recommended since most users browse with sound off

Carousel ads allow up to six images or cards that users swipe through. Each card can have its own headline and link, making carousels useful for showcasing multiple products or telling a sequential story.

Carousel specifications:

  • Cards: 2 to 6 per carousel
  • Image dimensions: 1080 x 1080 pixels (square only)
  • File formats: JPG, PNG
  • Maximum file size per card: 20 MB
  • Each card gets its own headline and destination URL

Conversation Ads

Conversation placement ads appear within comment threads rather than the main feed. These placements put your ad in front of users who are actively engaged in discussion, which can drive higher interaction rates.

What Targeting Options Are Available on Reddit?

Reddit's targeting capabilities are what differentiate it from other ad platforms. The ability to target by community is unique and powerful.

Community Targeting

Community targeting lets advertisers select specific subreddits where their ads will appear. This is Reddit's most distinctive targeting feature. If you sell running shoes, you can target r/running, r/marathontraining, and r/trailrunning specifically. This level of interest-based precision is difficult to replicate on other platforms.

Interest Targeting

Reddit groups users by interest categories based on their browsing and engagement behavior across subreddits. Interest categories include technology, gaming, fitness, finance, food, travel, and dozens more. This is broader than community targeting but reaches a larger audience.

Keyword Targeting

Keyword targeting serves ads to users based on recent post titles, comment content, and search queries. This allows advertisers to reach users in the moment they are discussing relevant topics, regardless of which subreddit the conversation happens in.

Audience Targeting

Reddit supports custom audiences through pixel-based retargeting, email list uploads, and lookalike audience creation. The Reddit Pixel tracks website visitors and conversion events, enabling retargeting campaigns similar to Meta's Custom Audiences.

Location and Device Targeting

Advertisers can target by country, region, metro area, and device type. Reddit supports targeting across iOS, Android, and desktop web placements.

How Do Reddit Ad Costs Compare to Other Platforms?

Reddit advertising tends to be more affordable than Meta, LinkedIn, or Google Ads. According to data reported by Databox in 2025, average Reddit CPMs range from two to five dollars, compared to eight to twelve dollars on Meta and fifteen to thirty dollars on LinkedIn.

Reddit uses an auction model with three bidding options:

  • CPM (cost per mille): pay per thousand impressions
  • CPC (cost per click): pay per link click
  • CPV (cost per view): pay per video view (at least two seconds)

The minimum daily campaign budget is five dollars. Reddit recommends starting with at least 20 to 50 dollars per day to generate enough data for optimization.

What Are Reddit Ad Best Practices?

Match the native tone. Reddit users are skeptical of overtly promotional content. Ads that look and feel like organic Reddit posts perform significantly better than polished corporate creative. Use conversational language and avoid stock photography.

Use community targeting first. Start campaigns with community targeting to reach the most relevant audiences, then expand to interest and keyword targeting as you learn what works.

Keep videos short. While Reddit allows videos up to 15 minutes, ads under 30 seconds consistently outperform longer formats. Front-load your message since most users scroll past within the first few seconds.

Add captions to video. The majority of Reddit users browse with sound off, especially on mobile. Burned-in captions ensure your message reaches viewers regardless of their audio settings.

For brands looking to build organic presence on Reddit alongside paid campaigns, tools like Conbersa help manage multi-account Reddit strategies that complement paid advertising with authentic community engagement. The combination of paid reach and organic credibility tends to outperform either approach alone.

How Do You Set Up a Reddit Ad Campaign?

Setting up a Reddit ad campaign involves creating an account on ads.reddit.com, installing the Reddit Pixel on your website for conversion tracking, defining your campaign objective (awareness, consideration, or conversion), building your ad group with targeting parameters, uploading creative that meets the specifications above, and setting your budget and bid strategy.

Reddit's Ads Manager interface follows a campaign, ad group, and ad hierarchy similar to Meta Ads Manager. Advertisers familiar with Meta's structure will find Reddit's setup intuitive, though the targeting options are organized differently around communities and interests rather than demographics and behaviors.

Frequently Asked Questions

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