Ride-hailing company Uber has announced the creation of an in-house advertising division that will be responsible for placing ads on the app for customers requesting a taxi, or waiting for their cab to arrive.
The new in-app “Journeys Ads” service allows marketers to place ads within the platform, targeting customers at each step of their trips. This means customers will be consuming ads when as they wait for their cab or follow the route of their journey via the app.
The move seeks to expand the company’s revenue sources. The Uber Journey Ads division will be headed by former Amazon advertising executive Mark Grether. Grether said that Uber will leverage its global customers who “tell us where they want to go and what they want to get.”
“While these consumers are making purchase decisions and waiting for their destination or delivery we can engage them with messages from brands that are relevant to their purchase journeys,” he added.
The move is likely to attract backlash from data privacy advocates, but Grether says that customers can opt-out of targeted ads on the platform at any time. Uber says it has 122 million active monthly users around the world, which presents a unique opportunity for businesses to reach a wider market.
“Leveraging Uber’s first-party data and insights across its mobility and delivery businesses presents the world’s biggest companies with compelling new surfaces and closed-loop attribution to reach Uber’s audience of 122 million monthly active users,” the company said in a statement.
“With the addition of Journey Ads, Uber has created an engaging model that enables brands to share strategic campaigns across Uber’s mobility and delivery businesses.”
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