The ride-share tech company Lyft announced last Monday that it is expanding its location-based video advertising business, Lyft Media, across its various assets, including bike-shares and in-car tablets.
The announcement followed the release of ride-share competitor Uber’s second-quarter results, which noted that its advertising business was growing.
Lyft Media is intended to allow advertisers the ability “to engage with [Lyft’s] growing audience [on] their transportation journeys,” according to the Lyft blog. The company stated that this ad plan has been in the works for the past two years and more marketing products and partnerships are in the works.
One of the company’s advertising products is Lyft Halo, a digital screen mounted inside ride-share vehicles that will display ride information and graphics intercut with ads. According to Lyft’s blog, brands can establish partnerships with Lyft to purchase ad slots on specific days and times to maximize their reach to their targeted audience.
Lyft Halo is currently available in ride-share cars in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and New York City. Riders can tip and rate their drivers through the tablets. They can even control the music without asking the driver’s permission or having to plug their smart device into the car’s auxiliary.
The company stated that a portion of profits from this ad business would be given to drivers.
Lyft had found previous success with its marketing campaign Lyft Skins. Advertisers were able to buy ad space on the Lyft app. One of these campaigns involved Cardi B in 2017; it was so popular that it went viral, “generating over 2.6 million social media impressions,” according to Lyft’s blog.
Lyft stated that the in-car tablets will expand to Chicago and San Francisco next. The company plans “to have tablets present in 25% of all rides on the Lyft platform in [those] markets, [potentially] reaching millions of riders by the end of the year.”
