Video Ads Are Coming To All Your Uber Apps (businessinsider.com) 57
According to the Wall Street Journal, Uber plans to introduce full-length video ads across a variety of its platforms for the first time this week. Insider reports: 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. "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 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. "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."
Now even less of a customer (Score:4, Insightful)
So, apart from being stalked by amoral employees (not any more, allegedly...), having the fare jacked on me whenever Uber thinks they can get away with it, and general lawbreaking - Uber now wants to whore me out to their advertisers while I pay them for the car ride?
I am now even less of a customer, even more a resource to extract and exploit.
Re:Now even less of a customer (Score:4, Insightful)
Eh, I don't blame em. I'll just navigate away from their app while I'm in the car though. Like hell I'm going to pay any attention to an ad. Then again, peak Uber for me was 2019. Now? Only when I really need one, which is quite rare these days.
Better to be not even their customer (Score:5, Interesting)
So, apart from being stalked by amoral employees (not any more, allegedly...), having the fare jacked on me whenever Uber thinks they can get away with it, and general lawbreaking - Uber now wants to whore me out to their advertisers while I pay them for the car ride?
I am now even less of a customer, even more a resource to extract and exploit.
Better to be like me and just not be an Uber customer at all.
BTW: Uber will, I saw somewhere, now let you hail a ride just by calling their phone number, (whatever that is,) so what I'd do is just do that. Then you don't have to use their stupid app, you don't have to get advertised at, and you still get the dubious benefit of paying way too much to ride in a car driven by someone who is barely getting paid enough of a portion of the money you'll pay to ride to cover their costs of being a "private contractor," while they pocket the rest. The more people advertise at me, the more I refuse to watch, read, listen, etc.
When ads became too annoying on TV, I stopped watching TV. When ads stuck their fat stupid ass into podcasts, I deleted my podcast app and went back to listening to my own vast music collection. Anyone who doesn't like people like me who refuse to be advertised at, (not to, AT,) have only the advertising industry to blame. Their only legitimate purpose is to inform people of the existence and features of products, goods or services. Instead, they try to wheedle their way into our subconscious minds with their insidious jingles and annoying catchphrases, trick us with lies and convince us to spend money we don't have on shit we don't need, forcing us to work more and longer and harder at jobs we hate. Worse, we are often convinced to go deep into debt, which means paying even more money just for the privilege of spending money. Break the cycle. Fuck advertisers and advertising, and when someone tries shoehorning ads into new places, PUNISH them. Boycott them. Bankrupt them. Let them know you DO NOT accept this attempt to abuse you, and you will PUNISH them for it. IF YOU DON'T, YOU ARE REWARDING THEM FOR TRYING TO FUCK YOU. FUCK THAT, AND FUCK THEM.
P.S.... I actually HAD the Uber app as a hedge in case I needed to get anywhere that I can't get myself, and now I'm going to close my account with them and delete the app (which I've almost never used) off my fucking phone because... well, by now you know why. I will NOT reward people for pulling this kind of shit. You shouldn't either, or you will see MORE of it. You allow this, you tolerate this, and before you know it, the ad will REQUIRE you to interact with it, or it will cancel your ride, and you will be stuck wherever you were, and either have to start all over again, or walk. You know it's coming. One day, the app will demand access to your front and back cameras and will take video of you to make sure you're staring at the screen. I'm calling it early... they'll be called, "REPEAT AFTER MEs" or RAM ads. That's where the person IN the ad recites a phrase, and you'll have to be recorded repeating that phrase to acknowledge receipt of the ad. Once again, at the risk of being repetitive: FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
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That's a brilliant rant, and I wish I had mod points so I could mod you up. I also wish you hadn't posted anonymously, so more people would read what you wrote.
I too am deeply anti-advertising. I don't mind ads too much when they're embedded in YouTube videos where the revenue / benefits go directly to the channel and where I can easily skip past them. My ad blocking and script blocking take care of the rest of the shit.
And I WILL NOT put up with advertising built into products that I've paid for. That's wh
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"Then you don't have to use their stupid app"
The ride-hailing app is the only part where they add value. If I have to find a number to call, why wouldn't I just use a normal taxi?
In civilized parts of the world, you can hail a normal taxi with an app.
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Unless they can raise prices, or pay drivers less, or generate additional income streams... they're in a tight spot.
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Now that they have the platform built, why not cut some costs? They're done innovating, like all large companies, so no future growth prospects there. How much does it really cost just to keep an app running in AWS?
Enshitification. (Score:3)
You were never the customer. You are just the resource to be exploited for the investors.
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Privacy? What's that? (Score:5, Interesting)
"We know where you are, we know where you are going to, we know what you have eaten."
And nobody sees this as wrong.
I hate this planet.
will they run injury attorney ad's? (Score:5, Funny)
will they run injury attorney ad's? even ones that may say injured in an uber? we can help!
the temporal edge (Score:2)
ahh, a new frontier in advertising, the temporal edge.
And you wondered why the uber app needed access to the accelerometer . . .
"Were you just injured in an accident?"
slightly different voice: "8.7"
first voice "seconds ago? Click now to have an attorney beat the ambulance to the scene!"
hawk, disgusted lawyer
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Re: Privacy? What's that? (Score:2)
A brilliant strategy! It's worked flawlessly for.....well nobody really. One need simply look back through history to see that...which given your stated position isn't likely. Hopefully there's just a few of you around.
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I hate it too, and I can barely get my intelligent, tech savvy friends to care about privacy. There's no hope for the slobbering masses to endure even the slightest inconvenience or increased expense in order to send a message that we don't want this increasing intrusion into our lives.
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I hate it too, and I can barely get my intelligent, tech savvy friends to care about privacy. There's no hope for the slobbering masses to endure even the slightest inconvenience or increased expense in order to send a message that we don't want this increasing intrusion into our lives.
The 80% masses determines who gets elected, what products succeed, and what the American people will accept.
The other 20%?
Well, you'll be on internet message boards decrying the idiot masses, but in the end, you'll get what y
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I have numerous friends that still get ads in Spotify because they're too cheap to pay the $5/mo or whatever it is. These people are not going to care about being advertised to while waiting for their ride.
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Just drive your own damned car...that's what pretty much everyone does every day.
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Clearly, people who can't drive don't deserve privacy.
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And nobody sees this as wrong.
And why would we see this as wrong? People are literally handing over this information to them. Even in the strictest privacy loving country you don't have a right to privacy of information you specifically hand to another party. At best you have a right that this information doesn't get shared further, but that's about it.
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It shocks me how blatantly he just said that like it's perfectly fine (though, I guess it is ok for the most part because the vast majority don't care enough to end and future business with them over that bullshit he just spouted). In which case, I suppose I'm not that shocked after all.
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I'm not sure which would be more useful.
An army of soldiers.
Or an army of lawyers.
Soldiers option does have a 100% chance of working......so there's that.
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And nobody sees this as wrong.
Sure we do, but we're American consumers, the second-class bitches of big business. For years politicians have spread our ass cheeks wide while Corporate America has strapped on a barbed-wire condoms and fucked us up the ass. Companies can write themselves out of the law, retain control of products long after they sell them to us, and even tell us what we can and cannot do with them. Seriously, we don't even OWN the things we pay for anymore, they took that away from us, pri
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No. Hell no. FUCK no. Nein. Nyet. Refuse.
Shit like this is why I prefer Lyft, and will never look at their shitty ads. If they force it on you and you have no alternative, put the phone down until the ad stops!
Pink Floyd told us (Score:2)
We know where you are, we know where you are going to, we know what you have eaten.
"It's alright we told you what to dream"
So I don't use Uber.
Time to go with Lyft... (Score:4, Insightful)
Uber isn't the only game in town. Between Lyft and other local rideshare providers, Uber is just shooting themselves in the foot. Especially when people are stressed enough as it is, and have to deal with video ads while waiting for a ride to the airport is just going to ensure people go somewhere else.
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Uber isn't the only game in town. Between Lyft and[b] other local rideshare providers[/b], Uber is just shooting themselves in the foot. Especially when people are stressed enough as it is, and have to deal with video ads while waiting for a ride to the airport is just going to ensure people go somewhere else.
You mean taxis, right?
Uber is "ridesharing" in the same way as running a speakeasy is "beverage sharing" (or an illegal brothel is "body sharing"), you cant pretend to be something you're being just by changing the name.
Great idea (Score:2)
I can't wait to see targeted ads for restaurants after I've already ordered my food, what a great idea.
I'm sure they'll rake in the dough selling these ads but I wonder how effective they will actually be...
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Ads don't have to be effective. They just have to exist, so the ad companies get paid. Marketing exec's main purpose is to convince their clients of the power of advertising, not to actually produce effective ads.
soon we'll all be trapped in ad-land. (Score:5, Interesting)
There are cities where only cars can get you where you need to go, and people who can't drive. I'm one such person living in one such city.
I'm in the Waymo self-driving car's test area, and right NOW, the Waymo cars are comfortable and the ride is smooth and there's no chance I'll end up in there with a driver making a phone call or listening to political talk radio or whatever. And I don't have to tip anyone. But it's only a matter of time before they realize they have a consumer trapped in a box and decide that they have the right to sell my attention through more and more of that ride. And the people responsible for inflicting that on us will never face responsibility for it.
If they can't make it affordable without selling ads, then I shudder to think what life will be like when landlords start putting advertisements in their apartments. We always wondered how we'd end up with the 1984 telescreen, the TV-camera combo that we're not allowed to turn off -- this is how.
Re:soon we'll all be trapped in ad-land. (Score:5, Interesting)
they will put an tip box in the self driving car
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Just the tip box? (Score:2)
I'd imagine they'd have more success with customers by providing their automatons with a box deeper than that.
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Soon, very soon [youtube.com] this will be our lives.
Who will pay for the bandwidth ? (Score:4, Interesting)
This can be expensive - eg you are roaming (outside of your normal country) or you have hit your plan's monthly allowance.
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This can be expensive - eg you are roaming (outside of your normal country) or you have hit your plan's monthly allowance.
You're making it sound like Uber cares... That's 100% your problem. The solution is to stop doing business with companies as dodgy as Uber.
Video ads in the doc's office now (Score:3)
Must be an awesome time to be an Uber driver (Score:1)
Now all the drunk rightoids get another opportunity to be informed about how a beer company supports woke causes and all the drunk leftoids get another opportunity to be informed about how a beer company supports the police and troops and all the drunk normies trying to have a conversation with their besties get confused by the corporate voiceover suddenly playing in their ear instead of their friends' voice - confusion, which of course the mind of the normie reacts to with blind anger even when sober - and
Another Good Reason... (Score:1)
...to drive my own car wherever I'm going, rather than flying and then needing an Uber to get where I'm finally going. I like to drive anyway, and America is beautiful. Texas to California? Sure, no problem. No airplane involved. Nor any sort of rental ride.
Remember folks... (Score:2)
The reason why you can't get access to the data in your car to help repair it, is because BAD PEOPLE might try to stalk you!
Berb... (Score:1)
Priorities (Score:2)
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Anyone here saying they'll stop using Uber because they're going to play ads: The confirmed stories about Uber's abuse of employees, lack of effective safety protocols for both passengers & drivers, & attempts to undermine democratic processes through lobbying & bribing public officials weren't as bad as being shown 90 seconds of video per ride? You really need to think hard about your priorities & values.
Oh they "stopped using Uber" for those other things too. At least, that's what they sa
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Well I no longer have Facebook, Twitter and now Reddit accounts anymore. Sometimes people put their money where their mouths are.
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I won't stop using Uber because of these things, I'll just continue to never start.
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Way to go! (Score:2)
I already don't use Uber and this just makes sure I never will....
my screen (Score:2)
So far, the screen in my subaru is not showing me ads. As long as that lasts, I don't need uber or taxis and hope they all have a nice trip to hell.