Reddit strikes deals with sports leagues to attract more ad dollars

(Reuters) -Reddit is bringing more sports content to its platform through deals with leagues, including the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, in a bid to attract more ad dollars, sending its shares up 4%.

The deals — which also cover the Major League Baseball, the PGA Tour and National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing — could help Reddit capitalize on the loyal audience and star power sports commands to boost its revenue, the social media platform said in a blog post on Monday.

Reddit users will be able to access video highlights from games and tournaments, behind-the-scenes videos, its popular "Ask Me Anything" format and other content posted by the leagues.

"The country's major sports leagues see the opportunity to reach global audiences on Reddit," Chief Operating Officer Jen Wong said, adding that the company was continuing to build more ways for organizations to engage with communities on the platform.

Reddit said its platform received 20.4 billion screenviews to communities in the sports category in the last 12 months, an increase of 26% over the year earlier.

The company, which went public in March, has been looking for ways to diversify its revenue. It signed deals with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Alphabet's Google earlier this year to allow artificial intelligence models to train on Reddit content.

Reddit, which was at the center of the 2021 meme-stock frenzy, had reported a 48% jump in its first-quarter revenue in May and said it could post an adjusted profit in the second quarter.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)