Dive Brief:

• Lyft has struck several new partnerships intended to strengthen its advertising business and hired a new CMO from Meta, according to blog posts.
• The ride-hailing company’s Lyft Media division has enlisted data giant Oracle to improve the sophistication of its ad targeting and Nielsen to help with measurement and audience verification. These deals come as Lyft implements in-app video ads nationally and adds more ways for brands to hone their messages, including through retail purchase data.  
• Separately, the firm earlier this week appointed Brian Irving as marketing chief, hoping to draw on the executive’s decades of experience in the tech industry at companies like Meta, Airbnb and Google. Lyft is aiming to boost revenue through an expansion into advertising, another area where it is closely competing with chief rival Uber. 

Dive Insight:

Lyft is moving at an aggressive pace to establish a well-rounded advertising segment. Bringing on partners like Oracle and Nielsen could further accelerate that journey, while the company at the same time is broadening the number of ways to engage ride-hailing consumers, such as through the rollout of a premium in-app video format. Lyft has previous deals in place with Rokt on ad serving, Kantar on insights and measurement and Reveal Mobile on the impact of out-of-home campaigns. 

Through the Nielsen pact, Lyft Media is leaning on three solutions: Nielsen One Ads, Brand Impact and Buyer Lift. The goal is to provide Lyft advertisers with a “full-funnel” view into the performance of their efforts, including whether they result in sales, as well as ways to track factors like ad frequency and de-duplicated reach. 

Improved ad targeting is another objective of the budding media unit. Lyft Media will leverage Oracle Advertising’s Data Enrichment tool to refine campaigns using data points like retail purchase behavior and demographic attributes. Lyft Media already offers advertisers the ability to target their ads based on first-party data like ride area, ride history and payment methods. 

Lyft introduced in-app advertising in August and is now adding video to the channel, seeking to give brands a more narrative means of commanding a rider’s attention in transit. Videos will run between 15 seconds to 4 minutes and play for the duration of a trip, from the moment a pickup request is submitted until drop-off. Lyft is promising video advertisers full “share of voice,” meaning they won’t be competing for screen time with other brands.

Active Lyft users, who number 22.4 million, tend to be glued to their phones when on a ride. The company claims they check the app nine times, on average, and that its video formats achieve viewability benchmarks up to 14% above industry norms. Warner Bros., BetMGM, Universal Pictures and United Airlines are some of the launch partners for in-app video ads. Lyft additionally sells ads on in-car tablets, on-car digital screens and at its bikeshare stations. 

Lyft makes a big pitch around contextual advertising, a tactic that has seen renewed popularity amid the death of the cookie. A consumer heading to a location near a movie theater might be a ripe prospect for a studio promoting a film release, like Warner’s “Wonka,” or the theater itself. Whether consumers will tolerate an increased ad load over the long term is a serious question media networks are contending with. 

Lyft extending further in advertising follows a challenging period marked by steep layoffs and a leadership transition. The ride-hailer’s bet for a bigger share of brand budgets ramps up competition with Uber, which is also doubling down on ads to drive profits. Uber has stated it wants to generate $1 billion in annual ad revenue this year.

Adding to Lyft’s changes in the top ranks is the hire of Irving as CMO. The executive, who stepped into the role on March 20, most recently served as chief marketer at Meta’s Reality Labs division that is in charge of virtual reality products and metaverse projects. 

“The brand foundations are strong — and yet there is so much more we can do to put the brand into action,” Irving said in a statement around his appointment. “Lyft is known for its warmth, likability and endearing personality. These are qualities that any other brand would be jealous of, and I am confident in the team’s ability to accelerate the brand connection to even more riders and drivers as we go forward.”