CANNES — CVS Media Exchange (CMX), the retail media arm of CVS Health, is teaming up with Reddit to unlock new advertising opportunities for brands, tapping into Reddit’s vast, high-intent communities focused on health, wellness and beauty.
“Our collaboration with Reddit will be available early Q4 of this year,” said Raphaela Walsh, head of product at CMX, during an interview with Jon Watts, managing director of the Coalition for Innovation in Media Measurement, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. “We’re super excited to see the results and performance, and based on that beta, we’ll then look to extend it further.”
Walsh said Reddit’s unmatched role in product discovery and conversation, particularly in health and wellness. “Reddit is the number one platform for product-related discussions, including health, wellness and beauty,” she said. “Over 51% of product mentions actually happen on Reddit, so it’s just a powerful, powerful platform.”
The partnership will integrate CMX’s first-party data, including insights from CVS’s ExtraCare loyalty members, with Reddit’s 108 million daily active users across 100,000 communities. Of particular interest are the 700-plus Reddit communities dedicated to health and wellness, which Walsh described as “really unique conversations that are happening with really high intent.”
Beyond scale, Walsh said both companies share a focus on authenticity, transparency and verification. Reddit’s existing partnerships with brand safety platforms such as DoubleVerify and IAS “really checked the box in a critical way that helped us move forward,” she added.
The collaboration not only expands CMX’s audience reach but offers brands a chance to tap into the reasons behind purchase behaviors.
“It’s being able to hone in on not just what they purchase, but why they purchase, or maybe even why not, and bring those insights further to our brands,” Walsh said.
Walsh framed the partnership as part of a larger trend where consumers move beyond traditional social media to seek peer recommendations and meaningful product discussions.
“It’s not just about social anymore,” she said. “It’s where they can consult with peers on topics that are meaningful for them and where brands can deliver highly targeted offerings with measurement.”
The beta launch is set for later this year, with plans to scale pending performance results. “It’s new communities, new ways to engage on discoverability and growth, and it will just yield a lot more transactions for our brands,” Walsh concluded.
You’re watching Beet.TV coverage from Cannes Lion 2025. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
