Exclusive: Lyft launches new ad formats
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Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
Lyft is ramping up its ad business with new formats, the ride-hailing company exclusively tells Axios.
Why it matters: Beyond traditional publishers, more companies with consumer attention and first-party data have looked to advertising to diversify and grow revenue.
Driving the news: Lyft's updated ad portfolio includes three formats.
- Sponsored Map Vehicles, now available to all brands, offers a full-day takeover of the Lyft map including custom vehicle icons and optional real-world car wraps and branding.
- Sponsored Rides by Mode lets brands subsidize standard or priority rides with their branding featured on the Lyft homepage and during the ride.
- Vertical Video is a full-screen, non-skippable video format that plays when riders select the Wait and Save option and are waiting for a car.
- This week, Lyft also announced measurement deals with IAS and DoubleVerify to verify media quality.
The big picture: Lyft is one of many tech and retail companies building ad businesses on top of their platforms.
- Uber launched ads in its Uber Eats app in 2020 and later expanded ads to its ride-hailing app. Last month, it reported an annualized ad revenue run rate of $1.5 billion.
- DoorDash this week announced it surpassed an annualized ad revenue run rate of more than $1 billion and acquired ad tech platform Symbiosys.
Zoom in: Lyft is on a smaller scale. CEO David Risher said earlier this month the company is on track to reach a $100 million annualized ad revenue run rate by year's end. But it's aiming to grow with new hires and products.
- Suzie Reider, who founded YouTube's revenue and marketing team and later worked as Waze's global chief revenue officer, joined in December as executive vice president of Lyft Media and Lyft Business. She told Axios that her team has embraced being a challenger.
- "Given that we do not have the scale that Meta or Google have, we hustle in the mindset of 'necessity is the mother of innovation,'" Reider said. "In this era of AI, algorithmic, massively scaled and programmatic media, our team will eagerly engage in creative solutions."
Between the lines: The strength of these new ad sellers is a trove of first-party data, including real-time location, destination and intent, alongside an engaged customer spending meaningful time on the platform.
- Reider said a rider spends 24 minutes, on average, with Lyft between waiting and riding.
- Lyft has attracted brands with specific marketing objectives, including driving store traffic and raising awareness at events and conferences, Reider said.
What's next: Reider said Lyft will announce more new offerings toward the end of the summer.
Go deeper: Everyone wants to sell your attention
