How to create a Reddit Ads campaign
This guide walks you through building a first Reddit Ads campaign in Ads Manager, from choosing an objective to targeting communities and keywords and publishing your ads.
A Reddit campaign has three levels. The campaign holds the objective and, if you use campaign budget optimization, the budget. Ad groups hold targeting, placements, schedule, and bidding. Ads hold the creative people see.
Reddit offers two main ways to build. Standard campaigns let you choose the objective, targeting, delivery, and creative yourself. Max campaigns, currently in beta, automate bidding, budget allocation, and creative selection once you supply targeting hints and assets. This guide follows a Standard campaign so you see every setting.
Start a campaign and pick an objective
In Ads Manager, select Create Campaign. Choose one of five objectives: Awareness and consideration for reach and video views, Traffic to send people to your site or a Reddit post, Sales for purchases and other valuable site actions, Lead generation to collect leads, or App promotion for installs and in-app actions. Then choose the Standard campaign type.
Watch outSales and Lead generation need the Reddit Pixel or Conversions API sending events before they can optimize.
Name the campaign and declare special categories
Give the campaign a name that shows the goal and audience. If the campaign is about housing, employment, or credit, enable This is a housing, employment, or credit campaign. These campaigns cannot target by gender, age, or postal code, and Reddit says existing campaigns cannot be edited later to add the designation, so decide before you continue.
Decide on campaign budget optimization
With campaign budget optimization on, you set one budget for the campaign and Reddit allocates it across ad groups based on performance. It is available for all objectives except sales campaigns that use a catalog. With it off, each ad group gets its own budget. You can also set an optional campaign spend cap, which the campaign will never be billed beyond.
Set targeting for the ad group
Choose location, and add language, gender, and device targeting if they matter. Then add Reddit audiences. Community targeting reaches people who subscribed to or visited chosen subreddits in the last 28 days, and Reddit recommends at least 15 communities per ad group. Keyword targeting places ads around relevant conversations. Interest targeting uses topic groups and is a broad place to start.
TipReddit recommends turning on automated targeting, which adds relevant audiences beyond your selections.
Add exclusions and custom audiences
Add negative keywords and excluded communities to keep ads away from topics that do not fit your brand. If you have them, add custom audiences: website retargeting from your pixel, customer lists, lookalikes, or people who engaged with your earlier Reddit ads. Custom audiences combine with Reddit audiences using AND unless automated targeting is on, in which case they combine using OR.
Choose placements
Reddit has two placements. Feed ads appear in Home, Popular, and community feeds. Conversation ads appear on post pages, inside threads. Every ad type works in both, and Reddit recommends using both for reach. Keep both selected unless you have a clear reason to separate them, such as wanting to compare how each performs.
Set budget, schedule, and bidding
If campaign budget optimization is off, choose a daily or lifetime budget for the ad group, then a start date and optional end date. For bidding, Lowest cost is the default and needs no bid amount. For Sales or Lead generation, select the pixel and conversion event to optimize for. Our budget guide explains bidding options in more detail.
Create your ads
Choose an ad type: image, video, carousel with 2 to 6 images, or free-form, which mixes text, images, and video. Write a headline, keeping it under 100 characters, or 80 if truncation is a concern. Add your destination URL and choose a call to action such as Learn More or Shop Now. Preview each ad in feed and conversation views.
Review and publish
Check every setting, confirm the payment method, and select Publish. Reddit reviews ads against its advertising policies before they run. Reddit’s Max campaign documentation says review normally takes up to 48 business hours, with weekend submissions reviewed the following Monday. If an ad is rejected, Reddit gives a reason, and you can fix and resubmit it.
Before you move on
- The objective matches the result you want
- Special ad category is declared if it applies
- Targeting uses enough communities or keywords to deliver
- Brand safety exclusions are in place
- Each ad has a clear headline, working URL, and fitting call to action
Official resources
- Ad campaign objectives
- About audience targeting
- Reddit audiences: community, keyword, and interest targeting
- Ad unit specifications
- Max campaigns (beta)
Ad platforms update their tools often. This guide was last reviewed against the official documentation above in October 2026. If your screen looks different, the official help pages have the latest steps.
At a glance
- Level
- Beginner
- Time
- About 45 minutes
- What you need
- A Reddit Ads account with a payment method
- A clear goal and a description of the people you want to reach
- Ad images or video, headlines, and a landing page
- The Reddit Pixel or Conversions API set up if you want Sales or Lead generation
- A list of relevant communities and search terms
Rather have it done for you?
Active Digital Marketing builds and manages Reddit ad accounts for businesses doing $25,000+ a month in revenue.
Apply to work with usOr get an ad account auditWhere DIY setups go wrong
The most common problems with self-built Reddit Ads setups, and what they cost.
Targeting only a few small communities
Very narrow targeting can limit delivery and raise costs. Reddit recommends at least 15 communities per ad group for community targeting.
Writing ads like they belong on another platform
Reddit users are quick to notice polished ad copy that ignores how people talk in their communities. Ads that read as out of place tend to draw skeptical comments.
Choosing Sales without tracking in place
Without the pixel or Conversions API sending purchase events, Reddit has nothing to optimize toward, and results are hard to judge.
Forgetting about comments
Many Reddit ads allow replies. If nobody watches them, questions go unanswered in public.
Pairing a large budget with few low-volume keywords
Reddit notes that a high budget with only a few low-volume keywords can leave budget unspent and raise costs per click.
What this guide doesn't cover
A published campaign is only the setup. On Reddit, results depend on finding the communities and conversations where your buyers actually spend time, writing creative that fits there, and having clean conversion data so delivery improves instead of drifting.
Active Digital Marketing builds Reddit campaigns around community and keyword research, conversation placements, and Pixel plus Conversions API measurement, and manages them alongside your other channels.
- Community and keyword research and pruning
- Creative testing built for Reddit audiences
- Choosing between Standard and Max campaigns
- Retargeting and lookalike audience strategy
- Bidding changes as conversion data builds
- Reporting that compares Reddit with your other channels
Common questions
What objectives does Reddit Ads offer?
Reddit offers five: Awareness and consideration, Traffic, Sales, Lead generation, and App promotion.
Do Reddit ads only show in the communities I target?
No. Community targeting reaches people who subscribe to or visit those communities, and ads may show anywhere they browse on Reddit.
What is a Max campaign on Reddit?
Max is an automated campaign type in beta that adjusts bidding, budget, and creative selection for you. It supports Traffic, Sales, Leads, and App promotion and accepts image and video ads.
How long does Reddit take to review ads?
Reddit's Max campaign documentation says review normally takes up to 48 business hours, and weekend submissions are reviewed the following Monday.
Keep learning
How to Create a Reddit Ads Account
Set up a Reddit Ads account step by step: Reddit login, business details, country and currency, payment, profiles, and team access.
Read the guideHow to Set a Reddit Ads Budget
How Reddit Ads budgets work: daily vs lifetime, campaign budget optimization, spend caps, bidding strategies, pacing, and changing budgets safely.
Read the guideHow to Install the Reddit Pixel
Install the Reddit Pixel by code, Google Tag Manager, or Shopify, set up conversion events, test them, and see how the Conversions API fits in.
Read the guideHow to Create a Meta Ads Campaign
Build your first Facebook and Instagram campaign in Ads Manager: objective, Advantage+ settings, audience, placements, the ad itself, and launch.
Read the guideHow to Create a Google Ads Campaign
Build your first Google Ads Search campaign: objective, networks, locations, AI Max, keywords, responsive search ads, budget, and publishing.
Read the guideHow to Create a TikTok Ads Campaign
Build your first TikTok campaign: pick an objective, choose manual or Smart+, set targeting and placements, upload your ad, and submit it for review.
Read the guideRather have it built right the first time?
If your business does $25,000+ a month in revenue, apply and Mitch will review your accounts personally. Earlier than that? An ad account audit gives you a senior-level fix list you can work through yourself.