The news: At CES, Uber Advertising announced Journey Takeovers, a premium format that turns a single ride into a brand narrative inside the Uber app.

• The format layers branded map takeovers, animated vehicle icons, and in-app banner ads so messaging unfolds from app open through arrival. An early test with Coca-Cola saw the app’s car icon turn into holiday vehicles like Santa’s sleigh and the Christmas caravan depending on the market.
• Uber says Journey Ads average more than 100 seconds of view time globally, and animated map icons rank among the app’s most attention-grabbing placements.
• Campaigns are intentionally limited by geography and time window to preserve novelty and avoid fatigue, positioning Journey Takeovers as moment-based experiences rather than always-on buys.
• The rollout spans more than a dozen markets, including the US, UK, Canada, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil.

Zooming out: Uber is also reinforcing its premium positioning by introducing a custom, platform-specific attention metric with Kantar and Adelaide, designed to show how in-ride and checkout ads capture sustained focus in moments when users are actively tracking their trips or orders.

It is also expanding how it monetizes customer data through Uber Intelligence, a platform that allows advertisers to safely blend their own customer information with Uber’s anonymized usage signals to generate insights.

Why it matters: Even as technology advances and new ad formats flood the scene, advertisers increasingly prioritize storytelling over pure format novelty.

• Nearly 70% of US brand and agency marketers say clear brand storytelling and visually compelling design define great creative, according to a TripleLift/EMARKETER survey.
• 64% of US brands and agencies say compelling storytelling performs best, per Digiday.