👉 Background: Uber is the OG of ride sharing and food delivery services, which started in San Francisco in 2009. It went global fast, and launched in Australia in 2012. It was famously operating at a loss for years as a result of its aggressive growth strategy - think about all those ads with Kim Kardashian, Magda Szubanski, Cher, Rebel Wilson and more.

‍👉 What happened: In 2022, Uber added a new string to its bow - it launched an advertising business. Think: ads promoting specific restaurants above others (a bit like Google sponsored ads... in your Uber app). And in its first year, it brought in an additional $41 million in Australian revenue. Fast forward two years later, Uber’s advertising business in Australia grew by 55% to $150 million.

‍👉 What else: Uber uses its first-party data like your age, location, gender and food habits to serve up really targeted food ads. Hungover on a Sunday morning? Ohhh you better believe Uber will offer you Maccas! In a world where users are becoming more savvy with their data privacy, Uber has found a way to monetise the mountain of data they own.

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‍What's the key learning?

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‍💡Not all data sources are created equal - and first party data has become a super valuable resource.

💡First party data is information that a company collects directly from you. For Uber, it might be your location, your purchase history, and your food preferences. It’s accurate, reliable, and usually you’ve consented to it first. As opposed to third party data, which is data collected by a data company or aggregator, and then shared with other businesses.

💡Back in 2021, Apple cracked down on third party data collection to protect user privacy. And that meant a lot of advertisers lost access to information that used to allow them to serve up targeted ads. So, now more than ever, first-party data has become a super valuable resource... and Uber’s got oodles of it.