- Targeted, full-length video ads are coming to Uber for the first time, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- Users will encounter them on Uber and Uber Eats' mobile apps, in cars, and on Drizly.
- The change arrives as the company seeks to have a $1 billion ad business by 2024.
Pesky targeted ads are coming to haunt you in a new place: The back of an Uber.
The ride-sharing company plans to introduce full-length videos ads across a variety of its platforms for the first time this week, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Riders will encounter ads that are up to 90 seconds long on Uber's app while waiting for pickup and during rides. Similar to New York City taxis, which introduced TV screens in 2007, select Uber cars will have tablets that auto-play ads as well, the WSJ reported.
Video ads will also be incorporated across Uber Eats and Drizly, an alcohol delivery service acquired by Uber for over $1 billion in 2021, the WSJ reported. On Uber Eats, ads will display while customers wait for their deliveries, and on Drizly, ads will play on search results pages.
While this development is not exactly out of the blue — Uber announced it would launch an advertising division to connect brands with customers in October — the move to begin implementing them so swiftly shows how serious the company is about its goal of growing its advertising business to more than $1 billion in sales by 2024.
Part of Uber's pitch to brands is its cache of user data. The company has information on where its users go, how often they travel to their destinations, and how long they spend in the car.
The company launched a self-service ad platform in March for smaller and medium-sized brands to access Uber cartops in major US cities, like New York and Los Angeles. It has since grown to offer sponsored listings and emails, in-menu ads, and in-app banners.
"We have two minutes of your attention," Mark Grether, vice president and general manager of Uber Technologies' advertising division, told the WSJ. "We know where you are, we know where you are going to, we know what you have eaten."
Grether added that Uber can use all of that data "to then basically target a video ad towards you."
While users will be able to opt out of ads that make use of their gender and ride history, they will not be able to opt out of advertising entirely, an Uber spokeswoman told the WSJ.
Massive retailers are also trying to get advertisers to spend extra money on digital ads that draw on customer data.
This past August, Walmart threw its hat in the ring for sponsored video ads, launching a division to sell space across its digital channels.
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