In a competitive streaming landscape, YouTube Music and Essence set out to increase awareness and intent of the platform by celebrating the world's most passionate music communities on Reddit.
If you really want to tap into some of the most passionate fan bases on the internet, a subreddit is the way to go. YouTube Music decided to tap into five of the largest, most influential subreddits (examples include: r/HipHopHeads, r/kpop, r/Listentothis) by gifting them with specially curated playlists of their own making.
YouTube leveraged Reddit internal data tools to determine the most upvoted and top discussed tracks in 2018 within several Reddit communities. Using the findings, Reddit created custom YouTube Music playlists and artwork to distribute across the site. Reddit also showcased the top 5 music subreddits on subreddit takeovers and their social channels as well as 5 of some of the more "niche" music communities.
"The playlist is everything." -Reddit commentary
Throughout 2018, despite anything else happening in the world, Reddit's love of music stayed the same. YouTube Music's decision to interact with Redditors via takeovers and gifting curated playlists resulted in an uptick in awareness and conversation. In subreddits like PopHeads, indieheads and ListenToThis, the average weekly mention took off. As a result, YouTube Music was able to establish itself as a go-to resource for music lovers and truly became entwined in the subreddit conversation.
