Reddit Ads launches campaign planner, campaign optimization score and wider campaign budget optimization

Reddit announced on October 20, 2026 three new Ads Manager features. The campaign planner projects reach, impressions and costs, lets advertisers compare plan versions across budgets, audiences, objectives and placements, and converts a selected plan into a draft campaign; it also surfaces engagement insights and conversation summaries for targeted subreddits. The campaign optimization score rates campaigns from 0 to 100% with tailored recommendations during creation and editing. Campaign budget optimization automatically shifts spend across ad groups, with budgets and bids set at campaign level. The planner and optimization score are rolling out to all advertisers through October. Campaign budget optimization is available on Awareness and consideration and Traffic objectives, and in beta for Sales, Lead generation and App promotion.

Impact

Reddit is closing the gap with larger platforms on planning and automation, which lowers the effort needed to pitch and launch Reddit tests for clients. Reddit reports that advertisers with an optimization score of 80% or more saw 19.6% lower blended CPA, and that CBO for traffic delivered 10% lower CPCs, but these are Reddit internal figures. Moving budgets to campaign level changes how agencies control spend per ad group and how they report on it.

Recommendations

Use the campaign planner to build reach and cost forecasts for Q4 and early 2027 Reddit proposals
Review optimization score recommendations critically rather than applying them automatically
Test campaign budget optimization on Traffic or Awareness campaigns against an ad group budget control before rolling it out widely

Source: Reddit for Business