Uber announces the launch of Journey Ads, a first-of-its-kind advertising option for Australia, offering unparalleled share-of-voice and consumer attention from millions of riders across the region. 

Unveiling one of the first Journey Ads with Wavemaker client Paramount+ as the company’s launch partner, this is the latest initiative from Uber’s advertising division for advertisers, allowing brands to place relevant content in front of purchase-minded riders from the moment they book their ride through to the end of their trip. 

Through leveraging Uber’s first-party data and insights on millions of users, Uber can surface interesting and relevant ads to users without compromising their privacy or experience, or sharing their personal data. Brand advertisers can curate and personalise powerful and relevant user content based on a user’s current activity as well as their interests as suggested by previous trips and orders to engage their audience. 

This follows a successful trial in the US where over 40 marquee brands have partnered with Uber to run Journey Ads. With 100% share of voice during the entire trip, early results show that consumers were exposed to the ad content for approximately two minutes, resulting in two to six times the brand-performance lift compared to other digital platform benchmarks.  

From November to January, Paramount+ will share upcoming exclusive content available on the streaming platform to riders between 3pm to 9pm, with recommendations on the latest shows and movies to wind down their day.

Paramount+ Regional Vice President Marketing & Growth, Louise Crompton, said: “At Paramount+ we are always looking for new and innovative ways to present our brand and our exclusive content slate to Australian streamers. The targeting opportunities combined with the high dwell environment to reinforce our Mountain of Entertainment over Summer, was very appealing to us.”

Wavemaker Group Director, Peter Andrew, said: “We are always looking for innovative ways to connect with audiences and reach them with the right message at the right time. Uber advertising provides a new platform to talk to audiences when they’re in the right mindset. We are so excited to leverage Uber’s new targeting capabilities to feed people content that will excite them personally.”

Uber’s Head of Advertising ANZ, Michael Levine, said: “We are excited that Paramount+ is amongst the first to launch Journey Ads on our platform, as we have seen strong levels of interest from brands across Australia looking for innovative ways to connect with audiences.   Uber’s Journey Ad format offers brands 100% ownership of the ride. At an average 20+ minutes per ride, our pilot partners in international markets have seen phenomenal levels of engagement with the new ad format. Combined with unique waypoint targeting, Uber’s new advertising formats offer Australian brands a space to create meaningful audience engagement.”

Uber Journey Ads follows the successful launch of Uber’s Advertising division in ANZ earlier in July, which includes a suite of advertising formats for merchants, partners, and brands on both the Uber and Uber Eats platform. 

In addition to helping brands connect with consumers at relevant points throughout their journey with Uber and Uber Eats, the company provides brand partners with comprehensive reporting and analysis at the end of each campaign. By offering this unique view into consumer behaviour, brands are able to fine-tune their consumer understanding and create more impactful campaigns. 

Users can also set their ad preferences, as well as opt-out of certain personalised ads, in Uber’s Privacy Centre. In addition, Uber requires all advertisers on the Uber Platform to comply with its Content and Targeting Policies and all ads are subject to Uber’s review and approval.