Need An Urgent Uber Ride? Uber Is Going To Start Making You Watch Ads First

Uber has come up with a way to make more money and occupy those awkward silences during a lift. The rideshare company recently launched in-app ads in the U.S. Those ads generate commercials based on a user's trip info and it's ready to introduce that kind of targeted, branded content in the Great White North as well.

"Riders can expect to see Journey Ads in the coming months," Uber Canada told MTL Blog.

The company plans to use rider data, including where they go, to trigger ads that can pop up while requesting a ride, waiting for a ride and taking one.

The Uber Eats app will see a similar treatment with "prominently placed" sponsored listings, along with in-menu and post-checkout ads.

"We can connect advertisers to consumers on average five times per month across rides and delivery," Mark Grether, Uber's General Manager for Advertising, said in a recent press release.

The company has put some restrictions on what kind of user info can be used to make ads, excluding trip info about health-, school- or government-related visits.

Uber isn't the first company to turn to more ad-based revenue in recent weeks. Netflix announced earlier this month that it will start offering a cheaper ad-based subscription model that subjects viewers to four to five minutes of ads per hour of content and charges between $10 - $15 less than a non-ad plan.

Users can opt out of Uber's Journey Ads in the privacy settings, according to the company, but it remains to be seen whether agreeing to watch them will make rides less expensive.

This article has been updated with details about opting out of ads and the minimum number of ads shown during a ride.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.