I'm not sure if the author is out of touch with reality but obviously adding ads on a map while in transit is a big UI/UX blunder. I use Grab everyday the ads are only in the booking (looking for a driver) phase. And free option is never possible in this kind of business.
What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#22I've got my Uber "user rating" reduced more than once after asking a driver to switch their radio from adverts to a station with music. I only asked this after multiple adverts in a row but it seems drivers like their radio stations. I rarely enter a taxi(-like) without my headphones.
You would like your radiostation in your workspace yes and not have to suffer the whims of others
The relationship is not business and customer it is prisoner and prison guard - many customers will reduce a drivers rating for for the tiniest thing and in turn they do it back
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#23> That’s right, ads. I think it can be done well
No, it can't. This is a terrible idea. After that sentence, I continued reading for a bit, for some purely morbid type of pleasure, but eventually had to close the tab.
I need less ads in my life, not more of them.
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#24As if you could ever get $10 in advertising for a single person in a short amount of time. If Uber, or some other Wolf-of-Wallstreet-funded cash grabber, starts using the installs-for-cash scheme on a large scale, advertisers will no longer be willing to pay that amount of money. They won't subsidize your cab trip. > So how would you push the prices even lower than UberPool? By exploiting drivers harder? But this sen…
And even $10 is still pretty low for driving someone even a short distance, if the car isn’t junk and the driver has holidays, sick leave, pension and health insurance.
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#25Public transport is covered in ads, has a much higher ridership than rideshares (i.e. has many more eyeballs to sell, and much lower per-user costs) and isn't even close to being profitable from ad revenue.
Which is obvious to a lot of people except for SV "tech bros" apparently > Free, ad-supported Uber rides are inevitable, and if Uber doesn’t do them, a different competitor – perhaps Google! – will do it. This doesn't survive 5 min of serious analysis. Not everything that becomes cheap end up free But hey, if they BS hard enough Sequoia might put a lot of money in them
The blog author is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#26I have seen Grab’s (Grab is SEA Uber) motorbikes showing ads on mounted tablets, and their car drivers have tablets in the car that showed ads. On top of that the app showed GrabFoods ads with “food at your end location”. And the Grab app itself is filled with ads. It didn’t make the rides free though.
> On top of that the app showed GrabFoods ads with “food at your end location”.
I get those in France, too, with regular Uber. They try to get me to buy something or other on Uber Eats "for when I arrive". At like 2 in the morning. And no, I don't live in NY or somewhere with restaurants open 24/7.
They also have a share (or something, not sure how this works) in a bike-sharing scheme. So, I often get notifications while in the car like "oh, you could ask your driver to stop here and get a bike for the rest of your journey". Right. If I was willing to ride a bike, I'd already be on one. If I'm in your car, it's probably because it's pouring rain, or I'm too tired / drunk.
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#27Maybe the next step can be: get paid to ride an Uber while blasted with ads! /s
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is obvious to a lot of people except for SV "tech bros" apparently > Free, ad-supported Uber rides are inevitable, and if Uber doesn’t do them, a different competitor – perhaps Google! – will do it. This doesn't survive 5 min of serious analysis. Not everything that becomes cheap end up free But hey, if they BS hard enough Sequoia might put a lot of money in them
The blog author is a partner at Andreessen Horowitz.
...cool? does that position come with the ability to defy gravity or math?
Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#29My last uber ride was $30. For a single ad that would be a CPM of $30k. I don't see an ad alongside an uber ride reaching that level except for very specific destinations and times.
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Re: What free, ad-supported Uber rides might look like
#30As if you could ever get $10 in advertising for a single person in a short amount of time. If Uber, or some other Wolf-of-Wallstreet-funded cash grabber, starts using the installs-for-cash scheme on a large scale, advertisers will no longer be willing to pay that amount of money. They won't subsidize your cab trip. > So how would you push the prices even lower than UberPool? By exploiting drivers harder? But this sen…
I could see hospitals paying $10 to lure a potential patient in.