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There’s money in them thar rideshares.
Uber’s ad network gained approximately 55,000 advertisers this quarter, bringing its total to around 400,000. The “vast majority” are small and medium-sized businesses, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during an earnings call.
Its ad platform currently has a “revenue run rate,” or expected annual revenue, of more than $650 million—the company had projected more than $500 million in Q4 2022, but didn’t share a figure in Q1.
“This is very, very healthy spend that is significantly profitable,” Khosrowshahi said. The company thinks it could be a billion dollar business by 2024.
Uber’s revenue grew 14% year over year to $9.2 billion, with gross bookings up 16%. It was also the first time the company turned an operating profit.
The rideshare platform has high ambitions for its advertising business, which runs ads within a suite of ride-sharing and delivery apps, like Drizly and Uber Eats. It also offers out-of-home inventory in cities like New York and Phoenix, as well as ads on tablets installed in drivers’ cars.
The company is now investing in ad products that’ll help enterprise and CPG advertisers target audiences, Khosrowshahi said. Earlier this year, Uber announced a partnership with Omnicom Media Group and with the ad-tech company Criteo.
In prepared remarks, Khosrowshahi said “dozens of leading CPG brands” were using Uber’s ad products, and that the rollout of full-length video ads across its platform is “unlocking connected TV advertising budgets.” Because what’s more premium inventory than the back of an Uber?
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