Reddit Tests AI-Built Review Pages for 10,000 Products
Reddit is testing a new feature called Reddit Reviews, which uses AI to gather product conversations from across its communities into dedicated review pages. The company announced the feature in a blog post on Tuesday, according to Net Influencer.
“What appears in Reddit Reviews is shaped by Reddit communities, not paid placement,” Reddit wrote, adding that businesses cannot pay to have products featured.
How the pages work
The rollout will reach U.S. users on iOS, Android and the web over the next few weeks. It begins with about 10,000 frequently discussed products in Electronics, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, and Fashion & Apparel. Reddit plans to add more products and categories and to expand beyond the U.S. throughout 2027.
Each page opens with a “what people are saying” summary and a breakdown showing how many conversations are positive, mixed or negative. It also lists common likes and dislikes. Users can filter comments by topic, open the original thread, ask follow-up questions or compare products that shoppers often weigh against each other. Pages can be reached through Reddit search or by tapping a highlighted product name in a comment. Where no review exists, Reddit’s AI Search answers from community conversations.
Product images, prices and purchase links come from catalogs uploaded by brands and retailers. Reddit named Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Brooklinen and Best Buy among the providers, and told The Verge it will not take a cut of sales from those links. The company says Reviews is separate from the search ad placements it began testing with select advertisers on November 3.
Peer experience versus influencers
Reviews widens a shopping test that started in February with a related-products carousel in Reddit’s AI search for electronics queries. Reddit later added AI-summarized deep dives and a products tab on some business profiles, and in September extended the test to Home & Garden and Fashion & Apparel.
Reddit is also promoting the behavior to advertisers. Its Path to Purchase survey of 13,956 U.S. adults, conducted in May, found that half of U.S. shoppers say they verify AI recommendations on Reddit. It also found that reading honest, real-world experiences is twice as likely to be the most important purchase factor as reviews from professional critics or influencers. On its October 29 earnings call, Reddit said shopping was its fastest-growing ad objective. Total ad revenue for the quarter was $847 million, up 54%.
Spam concerns and open questions
The Verge reported that brands and agencies have tried to covertly promote products on popular subreddits as positive comments gained value. Reddit says volunteer moderators, its Safety team and user voting limit spam and inauthentic activity in what Reviews surfaces.
The launch comes amid a contest over which content AI shopping assistants trust. Creative intelligence company Sundogs said in October that AI citation sources were shifting from Reddit and text toward creator video.
Reddit has not said how it selects the comments that feed a review’s summary, or whether brands with mostly negative breakdowns will be able to respond on the page.
Source: netinfluencer.com
Image: netinfluencer.com
