Prepare Yourself for Video Advertisements in Uber and Uber Eats

Uber has been experimenting with advertisements within its Uber Eats platform since 2019. In October 2022, the company took this a step further by introducing “Journey Ads” in the primary Uber app. This move allowed Uber to explore the lucrative revenue stream of selling ad space within its apps and cabs. Initially launching with 40 well-known brands, Uber now boasts over 345,000 businesses advertising across various platforms.

These new video ads have a maximum runtime of 90 seconds and are tailored to users based on their Uber Eats and Drizly order history. In addition, the ride-sharing app utilizes your destination to deliver relevant ads. According to Grether’s conversation with the Wall Street Journal, Uber plans to integrate advertising across all three services in order to achieve a total ad revenue of $1 billion by 2024. Initially, these ads will be shown on a per-ride basis, meaning that users are likely to see ads from a single brand during one ride for the apps, while the in-car screens will display multiple ads.

Uber acknowledges that it keeps users’ information private and does not share it with advertisers. However, this assurance may still raise concerns. While users can choose not to disclose private demographic data such as gender, they do not have the ability to completely opt out of ads. The rollout of video ads within Uber apps will commence in the United States this week and expand to Australia, France, and the United Kingdom later in the year.