Uber will soon introduce full-length video ads for the first time on its ride-hailing app, food delivery service Uber Eats and alcohol sales platform Drizly, the company announced.
The ads will appear on the main Uber app while customers wait for drivers to arrive and during their trips, Mark Grether, vice president and general manager of Uber Technologies’ advertising division, said. The company also plans to show ads on tablets installed in some ride-hailing cars.
Beet.TV in January interviewed Grether at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where he described how Uber’s advertising platform resembles what’s known as a retail media network (video reposted above). Companies as varied as Walmart, Marriott, DoorDash, Kroger and CVS Health seek to help advertisers with their targeting based on the purchase histories of their customers.
About 345,000 brands bought ads on Uber in the first quarter of 2023, up from 315,000 in the last quarter of 2022, the company said in an earnings report. Most of the ads were on Uber Eats, with more than 25% of all participating restaurants buying ads, Grether said to The Wall Street Journal.
