OpenWeb launches Forums for publishers to host Reddit-like discussions on their own sites

OpenWeb is launching Forums, a product designed to let publishers host Reddit-like discussion pages on their own sites. Axios reports that articles can automatically become forum topics with existing comments pulled in, while readers can also start their own threads. OpenWeb says the system combines automated detection with human and community moderation, and that forum pages can create ad inventory either OpenWeb or publishers can sell. In beta testing with six publishing partners including FootballCo and 9to5Mac, OpenWeb says users who engaged with Forums spent three times longer on publishers’ sites, were twice as likely to register and showed roughly a 21% increase in overall engagement. Forums is part of OpenWeb’s broader Community Core offering.