• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Display Advertising

Uber’s new digital OOH unit brings location-targeted ads to car-top screens

Suddenly, the market for programmatic taxi-top advertising is accelerating.

Greg Sterling on February 26, 2020 at 6:09 pm
  • More

It was inevitable that Uber would get into advertising. Now it has to as the company faces increasing pressure to be profitable. Yesterday, Adweek first reported that the ride-sharing platform had partnered with Adomni to create Uber OOH and bring digital screens to its drivers in three cities: Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix.

Competition heating up. An initial trial will run through April. After that, the program will likely expand to more cities. It’s elective for drivers; since they’re not “employees” (according to Uberall) the company can’t compel its drivers to participate. Instead, there’s a financial sign-up incentive and drivers who log more than 20 hours per week will be eligible for additional fees. However, drivers don’t receive a cut of ad revenue.

Many Uber drivers also drive for Lyft, which just acquired Halo Cars, a relatively small “taxi-top” ads startup. Firefly also competes in this space, promising Uber and Lyft drivers more income in exchange for mounting digital screens on their cars. Indeed, the ride-sharing, car-top ads market could quickly become a battle for driver participation and loyalty, raising payouts and financial incentives.

Targeting and reporting. Uber OOH promises 1,000 cars, 180 million monthly impressions and “millions of miles” of ad exposures. It also says you can do precise geotargeting by neighborhood. The company will offer “performance reports.” It’s not clear, however, what that means and what specific metrics will be provided.

Location targeting can be and has become a surrogate for audience targeting in many cases. For example the audiences you’ll find between 8am and 12pm in a downtown business district will be different than those in particular residential neighborhood after 5pm or near entertainment venues and restaurants at night on the weekend.

Uber OOH competitor Firefly offers store visitation metrics, but also will report on ad-influenced website visits and app downloads. (This is done using ad IDs on mobile devices.) Uber OOH will need to match at least some if not all of those reporting metrics to be competitive.

Uber OOH ads can be purchased on a programmatic basis and dynamically change based on location and time of day. So advertisers can run ads only when and where their intended audiences are likely to see them. That’s a major different from traditional OOH.

Why we care. OOH advertising is the only traditional medium that’s growing. But digital OOH is growing faster, combining the creative power of real-world physical presence with the efficiency of digital media. Now is probably the time for marketers to test programmatic digital OOH (which goes way beyond these taxi-top ads) to determine if it can be effective for their clients.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Channel: Display AdvertisingDisplay AdvertisingLocal SearchProgrammatic Advertising & Media Buying

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Next Event: Sept. 14-15, 2021

Available On-Demand: March 2021

Available On-Demand: October 2020

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

Available On-Demand: SMX Create

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • SEO Wars: How to Resist the Dark Side and Earn Links Organically
  • Data & Organizational Roadblocks? Your Path to Frictionless Revenue Optimization
  • Converting with Conversational AI
  • 4 Ways Chatbot Marketing Can Drive Sales
  • Client Reporting Best Practices Guide
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Drive Customer Engagement with the Power of Personalization
  • 7 Use Cases That Prove Why You Should Implement DAM
  • Accelerate Your SEO & Content Marketing Program with 4 Key Milestones
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

Attend SMX For Only $199

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.