UK media regulator Ofcom has just released its annual Online Nation Report, a comprehensive breakdown of how UK audiences consume digital media. Among its key findings for 2024 is that discussion forum Reddit has overtaken Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) to become the fifth most used social media platform in the UK.
According to Ofcom, “Reddit has become the fastest-growing large social media platform in the UK, reaching over half of UK online adults by June 2024.”
Launched in 2005, Reddit is a discussion forum on which users can create posts in topic-based communities, known as subreddits, and interact in comment threads. Ofcom said: “Reddit had the largest year-on-year increase in adult reach. 48% (22.9m) of UK online adults visited Reddit in May 2024, an increase of 47% (+7.3 million) year on year. This increase moved Reddit up the social media ranking by two positions to become the fifth highest reaching social media service, overtaking LinkedIn and X.”
Ofcom said various factors may have contributed to Reddit’s growth in adult audience over the past year. “For example, in July 2023, Reddit began charging for its Application Programming Interface (API) access. So developers who had created their own apps, populated with Reddit information using the API, such as subreddit information, posts, comments, and user profiles, could no longer do this for free. This resulted in some of these third-party apps becoming unavailable, potentially forcing their users to switch to the Reddit site in order to continue accessing Reddit.”
Ofcom said Quora can be considered Reddit’s nearest rival in terms of its functional similarity, as a knowledge-sharing platform where users ask, answer, and discuss a wide range of questions. The regulator noted that “Quora has also grown steadily, reaching 31% (14.6m) of online adults by May 2024, a year-on-year increase in adult reach of 24% (+2.9m), and now ranking in 8th place, having overtaken Pinterest.”
The top of Ofcom’s table was as expected, with YouTube, Facebook/Messenger, Instagram and TikTok taking the four top slots. Snapchat came in at 10th. Among the top four, TikTok showed the strongest growth, up 13% year on year to 24m. Facebook/Messenger showed a marginal decline (-2%), but Instagram was up (4%).
In its general commentary on social media, Ofcom referenced the growth of paid-for tiers and services: “Social media is monetised primarily through advertising, often targeted based on users’ online behaviour and demographic information. According to IAB UK in 2023, social display advertising amounted to £7.5bn, over two and a half times more than five years ago, and representing a 16% year-on-year increase following a plateau in 2021-2022. However, as the online advertising market matures, social media companies are diversifying with paid-for revenue streams. Many companies have introduced a premium subscription option.”
