LONDON, Oct 22 — Forty-four per cent of UK Reddit entertainment fans have already headed to the cinema because of recommendations found on the community platform. Reddit has become a key trusted source for film and TV fans, who look to it for pertinent, reliable recommendations.

On Reddit, there’s no scarcity regarding communities dedicated to what we’re watching on the big or small screen, with some taking a general approach like r/movies, others specific to a film genre like British indies in r/flicks, or even dedicated to specific programs like r/SuccessionTV and r/LoveIslandTV. According to the report “The Powerful Role of Reddit as an Entertainment Recommendation Engine,” carried out by Reddit in partnership with The British Film Institute, London Film Festival 2023, out of over 500 Britons, 66 per cent of the social network’s users are cinephiles, compared with 56 per cent of all internet users. Sixty-two percent of Redditors are TV fans, 20 per cent more than the internet average, the survey points out.

In this battle of influence, Reddit is holding its own against competitors TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, X and Snapchat. According to the data collected, Reddit users are more likely to see a film in the cinema (+54 per cent compared to users of other platforms), watch one at home (+9 per cent), watch a reality show (+25 per cent), watch a scripted TV show (+14 per cent) and listen to a podcast (+27 per cent).

In addition to attracting heavy consumers of film and TV, Reddit keeps its users online and talking before, during and even after the release of a movie or TV show, and even during commercial breaks, more than any other platform.

A boost at the box office?

In fact, Redditors are heavy consumers of entertainment content in general. They are more likely to subscribe to three or more streaming platforms than the average internet user (+57 per cent).

In the UK, the community of movie fans seems to be more significant than on other social networks, with the survey finding that 62 per cent of Redditors claim to come to the platform to find new information on films and series, 12 per cent more than the average for other social platforms. Reddit was even cited as the number one platform for discovering new films and series, 50 per cent higher than the UK average for other social networks. Redditors also trust recommendations found on this platform most, +51 per cent more than other platforms.

And these recommendations drive consumption. Sixty-seven percent of Reddit users are more inclined to go to the cinema if a film has been recommended by someone on the platform, compared with 64 per cent of users on TikTok, or 59 per cent on X. Reddit continues to influence purchasing decisions.

The community platform could be a factor in the success of a production, even if it is little used by film studios. Recently, the German branch of Sony Pictures launched the subreddit r/MilesMorales, to mark the cinema release of the animated film Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse, and saw its engagement rate take off, with over 618,000 impressions following its campaign. — ETX Studio