Uber Will Be Serving Up Content Its Captive Audience

People sitting in the back of cabs present an interesting opportunity for the marketers of the world and it is an opportunity that the visionaries at Uber will not let pass them by.  After all why just sit there an look out the window at the outside world when you could just keep looking at your phone?

Tapping into the heretofore underused eyeball real estate from now on will be Uber’s “Trip Experiences” the new vehicle by which the ridesharing platform will dishing out push notifications, content or adds via third party providers – all nicely and neatly customized to last the length of a users Uber ride.

Uber is calling the new upgrade the biggest update to its system since the announcement last March that app developers would going forward would be able to drop an Uber button into any user interface. .

The content will be customized theoretically to the user – students might get music in playlist form from their favorite music app, while a business person on the go will get a five-minute news burst.  There will also be an chance to push ads to users (say your stop is near a store or restaurant) and it is that capability that makes some nervous – as they fear a future where an Uber ride presents an opportunity to be flooded with unwanted advertisements.

For its part, Uber claims that users themselves will have total control over the content they see.

“They will need to give permission before their favorite apps can connect to Uber and access their trip details,” the company says. “And users will be able to turn off the feature app by app at any point if it’s not useful.”
Uber’s developer agreement also prevents the use of the Uber API for just blanket with unasked for ads – though the platform does allow an ad to be show before say a video or playlist is displayed.

“The point of this experience to provide added value to a user not irritate them,” an Uber spokesperson said. “Because we require all apps to be whitelisted with us, we will be able to ensure the user experience is a positive one.”