Lyft is turning vehicles into ad spaces

The Future. Lyft is rolling out a dedicated advertising network that will soon bring marketing opportunities to the screens of every Lyft-branded vehicle. Since ridesharing is notoriously a debt-ridden venture, a robust ad business could actually put Lyft more consistently in the black.

Commercial driving
According to TechCrunch, your Lyft may soon be a driving billboard.

• Dubbed Lyft Media, the rideshare company is launching a transportation media network to put ads on in-vehicle screens, even bikes and scooters.
• The network will expand Lyft’s advertising to 25% of its cars in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, via the in-car tablets that let riders track their route, rate and tip drivers, and control the vehicle’s music.
• Drivers will also get an undisclosed cut of the ad revenue.

This isn’t Lyft’s first brush with advertising. The company acquired Halo Cars in 2020, which makes screens that run digital ads on vehicle rooftops — almost like a modern version of the old-school taxi tops.

Lyft’s double-down on advertising comes just after rival Uber said its own advertising business should bring in $1 billion in revenue by 2024. The race is on.