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Uber app will soon try to show you video ads while you wait for your driver

Online advertisements are everywhere these days, and sometimes they can be quite inconvenient. For those who don’t like to see ads all the time, here’s some bad news: Uber will soon show video ads in all its apps while the user waits for the driver and during a ride.

Uber pushing ads on its users

The news was reported by Wall Street Journal, which shared details about how users will see these ads while using Uber. Primarily, the video ads will run while users wait for their drivers to arrive. According to Mark Grether, one of Uber’s executives, the company’s main app will also show video ads during a ride.

More than that, Uber also plans to install tablets in car seats to show ads to passengers. The company has plans to expand video ads for Uber Eats. In this case, the ads will appear right after the consumer places their order. Drizly, an Uber-owned company, will also add ads to its app in the future.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently said that advertisements are becoming a key part of the company’s growth strategy. According to the executive, Uber’s active advertiser base had grown by 80% year-over-year. In 2019, Uber Eats was the first to have static ads, which were then expanded to Uber’s main app in 2022.

The report notes that one of Uber’s key selling points for advertisers is the huge amount of data the company has on its users. For example, Uber knows the places you visit and what you frequently order on Uber Eats. There’s also the fact that many users are constantly checking the Uber app during a ride. Still, Uber says it won’t share individual user data with advertisers.

It’s uncertain if users will be able to skip these ads or if they will be forced to watch them to the end. Uber will start showing video ads to its users in the US this week, while the rest of the world should receive the update later this year. As for the tablets inside the cars, they will be installed “on a city-by-city basis in the US.”

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Avatar for Filipe Espósito Filipe Espósito

Filipe Espósito is a Brazilian tech Journalist who started covering Apple news on iHelp BR with some exclusive scoops — including the reveal of the new Apple Watch Series 5 models in titanium and ceramic. He joined 9to5Mac to share even more tech news around the world.

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