Uber, Lyft turn to digital signage

Uber and Lyft for Octopus Interactive

In recent years, multiple companies have begun to invest in vehicle digital signage, and one company in particular is delivering digital signage directly to Uber and Lyft to market to a captive audience.

From a looping attract screen on a kiosk to a bright LED display at the Las Vegas strip, digital signage has taken many forms. One that is less common is vehicle digital signage, such as in taxis or on top of buses. That, however, is about to change.

In recent years, multiple companies have begun to invest in vehicle digital signage. Road Runner Media, for example, has developed a solution that plays signage on digital license plates on company vehicle fleets when the vehicle is in motion.

Another company, Octopus Interactive, is offering a network of screens for Uber and Lyft. This network delivers video content to riders in these vehicles that engage a captive audience.

Although COVID-19 put a major dent in all advertising, especially DOOH or taxi displays, as vaccine rollouts increase, it is beginning to see recovery on the horizon

To learn more about this network and how it is recovering from the COVID-19 slump, Digital Signage Today spoke with Cherian Thomas, CEO of Octopus Interactive.

Q. What are your company’s primary solutions?

A.Octopus is the largest national network of screens inside of Uber and Lyft vehicles. Brands are able to reach a hard-to-reach 18-49 audience in a highly memorable and captive setting with premium video and unique custom content and full funnel activations. Impression delivery is 100% verified, and our audience reach is measured by Nielsen.

Q.Do you offer any sort of analytics?

A. Advertisers have full visibility in real-time into the performance of a campaign through our live dashboard. They have access to top-of-funnel delivery metrics like pacing, daily performance data and geographic reporting. They can also access lower-funnel analysis of engagement performance, first party opt-in rates, A/B testing for optimization and first-party leads that can funnel directly to the client’s CRM. Additionally, clients running surveys or brand studies have access to immediate response data to gain consumer insights faster and more effectively.

Q. How did COVID-19 impact your business?

A. In the early stages of the pandemic, our business was hit very hard with

nationwide lockdowns. Since then, we have seen consistent month-over-month growth and recovery of the network and will experience a full rebound in late Q2. As rideshare demand is seeing all-time highs, we’ve experienced a tangible uptick in our network’s growth.

Q. Are you starting to see signs of recovery?

A. As ride hailing companies Uber and Lyft are experiencing immense demand growth, there has been a parallel uptick in our rideshare audience metrics with 20+% growth quarter over quarter.

Q.What does this mean for the advertising industry as a whole?

A. As more people are vaccinated and travel and commuting begin to return, the entire DOOH industry has a tremendous opportunity to support brands in communicating their messages to their desired audiences. This is happening when other forms of advertising are losing many of the identifiers that were core to their effectiveness. Add the abilities to remain fraud free, brand safe and easy to execute, DOOH is poised to raise its profile and importance in media budgets for brands of all types.

Photos via Octopus Interactive. Cover photo via Istock.com.

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