How Did Reddit Overtake Wikipedia as the Top AI Citation Source?
In a remarkable shift, Reddit has emerged as the most cited domain in AI-generated answers, surpassing even digital titan Wikipedia. Analytics from Profound examining over 30 million AI citations throughout Q2 2025 show Reddit cited nearly twice as often as Wikipedia on platforms like Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. While OpenAI’s ChatGPT still leans on Wikipedia, the tide is clearly turning in favor of Reddit, particularly as community-driven content becomes ever more valuable for AI training and real-world answers.
Why is this happening? Reddit’s bustling forums tackle niche questions and real-life problems that traditional encyclopedias and news sites often overlook. Google, seizing on this, signed a $60 million deal to license Reddit’s massive database—opening a floodgate of authentic human conversation for AI systems to learn, reference, and synthesize. For Google’s AI search and Perplexity, “wisdom of the crowd” isn’t just a catchphrase—it’s a data strategy.
What Is the Strategic Value of AI Citations for Reddit?
AI doesn’t just cite Reddit for trivia points; it exposes the platform’s content to billions of queries from AI-powered search engines every month. This surge has translated into real dollars: Reddit’s data licensing deals alone were worth $35 million in Q2 2025, up 24% year-over-year, powered by partnerships with heavyweights like Google and OpenAI. These partnerships make up about 10% of all revenue and validate Reddit’s importance not just as a social network, but as digital infrastructure for the AI era.
But that’s just the beginning. Reddit’s own artificial intelligence (AI) search tool, “Reddit Answers,” exploded from 1 million to 6 million weekly users in a single quarter, underscoring both the appetite for conversational, community-powered search and the platform’s ability to anticipate the future of online knowledge sharing.
How Has AI Integration Supercharged Reddit’s Advertising Business?
Reddit’s 2025 ad engine is running hotter than ever. Advertising revenue hit $465 million in Q2, up a staggering 84% year-over-year, accounting for more than 93% of total revenue. What’s driving this? AI-powered marketing tools like Reddit Insights and the Conversation Summary Add-On harness the company’s vast data trove, transforming Reddit’s billions of comments into actionable analytics and smarter ad targeting.
With over 110 million daily active users—more than half now international—Reddit’s ad reach is global and growing. U.S. ARPU (average revenue per user) soared to $7.87, while the worldwide ARPU reached $4.53, proving that AI-fueled insights are lifting all boats.
How Did Wall Street React to Reddit’s AI Transformation?
The stock market has spoken—and it likes what it sees. Following the Q2 earnings reveal, Reddit’s stock soared over 20% in a single day, boosting its market cap above $35 billion. Major financial analysts rushed to upgrade their targets, with some lifting forecasts by as much as $60. The bullish sentiment is anchored in Reddit’s dual role as the “backbone of building AI” and the ground zero for authentic, user-driven data.
However, not all are ready to declare Reddit unstoppable—some analysts urge caution, noting expectations are sky-high and competition for both attention and data licensing dollars is intensifying. But for now, Reddit is riding a wave of AI-fueled growth and strategic relevance that few saw coming just a year ago.
Reddit’s ascent from quirky internet forum to prime mover in the AI knowledge economy is a lesson in the value of real, messy, human conversation. If you’re looking for the world’s answers—chances are, the world (and its AIs) are already looking on Reddit.
