Uber is speeding toward a $1 billion ad business

The Future. Uber wants to make sure you never ride alone  (whether you like it or not) with the debut of Journey Ads, ads from a single brand that will appear during a user’s entire trip. The product is part of Uber’s plan to solidify what it calls “mobility media,” which are hyper-localized ads that will follow riders throughout the Uber experience… which, if engaging, may even change some dinner plans mid-ride.

Brand passenger
Uber wants brands to share a ride with their customers.

• According to Insider, Journey Ads will allow brands to show one or multiple ads from the moment a rider requests a car to when they’re dropped off.
• Brands are charged on a “cost-per-trip basis,” with fees varying by “the type of user the advertiser is targeting and their location.”

Uber Ads General Manager Mark Grether said that the Journey Ads would also help subsidize a rider’s trip, making it cheaper for consumers.

Speed up revenue
Uber already offers a variety of ads through both Uber and Uber Eats and on various placements inside vehicles. The hope is for the company to cross the $1 billion ad revenue mark by 2024… which is a long way from the $141 million it made in 2021.

But with the company touting that it already has signed up 230,000 brands and has a click-through rate almost 10x the industry average for “display ads,” the ambition seems possible, especially as people are starting to hail Ubers again post-pandemic.