Reddit is finally developing into a full-fledged media company with an added of its own video site, Reddit Original Video.

Reddit will start by trying to translate the success of the site's "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) interview posts into video format. Reddit Video has already recorded a series of AMAs with a number of celebrities, politicians, athletes and other public figures.

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Founder Alexis Ohanian announced the video site on stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City. He acknowledged that each new feature Reddit has rolled out over the last year is designed to expand the company’s reach beyond its existing audience.

Reddit's title as the "front page of the Internet" is well-earned. The site received 170 million visitors in January, generating 6.7 billion page views. It is a front page of sorts because rather that hosting original content, Reddit provides links to stories from around the web, which users rank in order of popularity.

On stage, Ohanian also noted that he believes Reddit has matured to a point where Redditors would embrace change to the site, rather than reject it.

“We know we have to modernize things. I think 170 million people are probably ready for something that looks a little more modern, a little more usable,” he said.

Reddit's move into original content is an attempt to monetize its huge user base. The change in approach follows a US$50 million funding round last fall that also saw the appointment of Ellen Pao as CEO and the return of Ohanian as chairman.

The expansion of Reddit’s brand makes a lot of sense for a company that is already helping to surface the most interesting content the internet has to offer for other media companies to digest and repurpose. Now, Reddit is simply taking ownership of that content while also growing its reach.

TagsAMA Session Reddit to Develop Its Own Video Platform, AMA, Ask Me Anything, Reddit, Redditor, video platform, Reddit AMA, Reddit video