Everyone else is doing it so why not us? This was Reddits approach earlier this year when the ads on the site got increased. Mobile viewers coped it the most, with ads being obviously more apparent the more you scrolled. Now Reddit has implemented Reddit premium the new money generating scheme.
Reddit premium replaces the old Reddit gold which was a way to reward a fellow user who did an excellent post; the gold allowed that user some perks for a certain period. Honestly it wasn’t that great nor fulfilling.
Buying a Reddit gold for someone costed $3.99 now with the new system you must buy Reddit premium for $5.99 or have a premium subscription which gives you 700 coins per month only then can you buy gold for 500 coins.
On the topic of Reddit premium being worth it? No not really. They advertise a members only area and no ads which is a plus but browser plugin Reddit enhancement suite and uBlock fixes that anyway.
Along with Reddit premium came a Reddit Coin reboot adding silver and platinum alongside the traditional gold coin.
So buying/having one month of Reddit premium for $5.99 gives you 700 coins so you can give out 7 Reddit silver. You can gift a Gold and have 200 coins leftover however you cannot gift a platinum, in fact you would need to buy 3 months of Reddit premium to gift a platinum award to a Reddit user.
Under the old system it was $3.99 to gift gold, the highest award possible. Reddits new system takes $17.97 to gift a platinum award. Smart by Reddit but also sadly another case of the rich getting richer, With the rise of revenue wont come the minimize of ads.
Bringing in the cheap “meme” option of Reddit silver whilst allowing for more of these awards to be given at thier low “coin” cost you still need a premium subscription. It makes users play by Reddits rules in spending more to get more than they need.
By introducing a new pay per month subscription service and bringing in a more “premium” god-tier reward Reddits new coin system is looking like a money-maker for them.
You can read more about Reddit premium here and Reddit coins here.