You just can't get out of the way of finding newer ways to reach consumers. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

Lyft, Uber Cars Offer Traveling DOOH Billboards

• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, 8 hours ago

Ride-share companies Lyft and Uber have entered into the digital out-of-home business to help drivers and to generate revenue for the respective companies, each in a slightly different way.

Uber partnered with programmatic out-of-home advertising platform Adomni to pilot digital screens positioned on the tops of participating driver vehicles.

The trial kicks off in Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix with the potential to expand nationwide. The idea is to provide advertisers with self-service programmatic media-buying options through Adomni’s demand-side platform (DSP).

The pilot, Uber OOH, becomes available for purchase on uber.com/uberooh or uberooh.com or Adomni.com/uber.

During the second quarter, Uber OOH inventory will becomes available through programmatic media buys for real-time bidding through popular omni-channel digital DSPs such as Amobee and Zeta Global, through a connection to to Adomni’s Neon Ad Exchange. 

The program enables advertisers to reach audiences through car-top screens via sponsorship commitments or programmatic campaigns. 

The Adomni platform has more than 160,000 digital screens available across U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Uber’s deal provides some of the same revenue-generating options as the one made last week by Lyft. Only this ride-share company acquired U.S.-based startup Halo Cars. The deal allows drivers to generate money through digital advertisements displayed on screens atop of their cars.

Halo Cars, founded in 2018, has operations in major U.S. cities, such as New York and Chicago.

Lyft said earlier this month that its active rider base in the fourth quarter grew to 22.9 million from 22.3 million the previous quarter, compared with Uber's total of global 111 million active platform users in the same period.

Halo’s website touts real-time tracking of ads through a dashboard that shows the number of pedestrians exposed to the ad, demographics reached, and more. Advertisers can make changes and publish live messages in seconds. A bi-weekly report provides details on the total impression reach segmented by zip code, average age, household income, and time