📮 Uber’s ad-venture

…from Amazon to Kroger to Netflix, everyone’s getting into ads [Disclosures](   Ad targeting has a new destination (Olly Curtis/Getty Images)   Last Week’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 31,083 (+4.89%) S&P 500 3,753 (+4.74%) Nasdaq 10,860 (+5.22%) Bitcoin $19,156 (-0.16%) Dow Jones 31,083 (+4.89%) S&P 500 3,753 (+4.74%) Nasdaq 10,860 (+5.22%) Bitcoin $19,156 (-0.16%) Hey Snackers, Everything tastes better with butter, but what about when butter is everything? [Butter boards]( the cheaper cousins of meat-and-cheese charcuterie boards, are taking over TikTok. All three major US indexes closed up last week, with the Nasdaq jumping more than 5%. Overseas, the UK inflation rate rose to a 40-year high and British PM Liz Truss announced her intention to resign. Btw... Do you want to start getting Snacks daily? Or prefer to unsubscribe? Manage your subscription preferences [here](. Eyes Uber launches in-app “journey ads” as unexpected players build major ad businesses with customer data [Budweiser]( ad en route to the bar… Your next [Uber]( ride might be #sponsored. Last week the ride-hailer [announced]( plans to let marketers target riders based on their destination with “journey ads.” It’s showing ads in the app as part of its new media division, and is also piloting in-car tablets (think: [Expedia]( commercial on the way to JFK). It’s been doing ads for years, though most have been sponsored listings on Uber Eats. - 5-star potential: Uber said its expanded ad biz could hit $1B in revenue by 2024, since ride-hail could pull in way more ad $$ than food delivery. Uber says riders will be able to click to buy a product without leaving the app. - “Cars will become our next living rooms” — Uber’s GM of advertising might’ve missed the WFH memo, but he could be right about growth potential. He said Uber’s ad revenue jumped to $141M last year from $11M in 2020. - Faster ETA: In August [Lyft]( launched its advertising unit, Lyft Media, adding tablets that riders can interact with to some cars. If there’s an eye, there’s an ad… the capitalist take on “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” When it comes to digital marketing dollars, the focus has always been on ad-reliant tech titans like [Meta]( [Google]( [Twitter]( and [Snap](. Now we’re seeing retailers building major ad businesses: - All in the grocery cart: [Kroger]( was one of the first retailers to expand its ad biz beyond its own properties, letting brands use its shoppers’ data to target them on third-party sites. - Data in the digital cart: [Amazon]( raked in $31B in ad revenue last year, giving it a bigger ad biz than Snap and [Microsoft](. It controls 78% of US retail media ad spend. - US ad revenue is expected to surpass a record [$300B]( this year, partly thanks to unexpected players jumping in, from [Dollar General]( and [Dick's]( to [Petco]( and [Ulta Beauty](. THE TAKEAWAY Data is an untapped profit puppy… for companies that have historically sold only products and services, not ads. Even [Netflix]( — which renounced ads for years — plans on launching its ad tier next month. By building their own ad networks based on their customers’ browsing and shopping habits, companies can be less reliant on third-party data, which has become trickier to get after [Apple’s]( major privacy changes. Still, the ad push could raise data-privacy eyebrows. Events Coming up this week... Try putting it in rice… Shares of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta have plunged this year (even more than the broader market) as advertisers cut spending and high interest rates depress valuations. Last week, Microsoft cut 1K employees, adding to the 44K+ tech workers laid off in the US this year. Apple reportedly halted some iPhone 14 Plus production in China as demand cools, while Google’s forecast to have its slowest revenue growth in years. With rates on the rise, analysts aren’t expecting stellar results when techies report this week. Still fizzy… Some snacks never seem to go out of style: grocery staples like [Coca-Cola]( [Kraft Heinz]( and [Campbell Soup]( have outperformed the market this year as shoppers keep stocking faves like Kraft mac, eating the price hikes. This month snack giant [Pepsi]( [raised]( its annual forecast, betting on continued Cheetos demand through an economic downturn (consumer goods have historically been resilient during recessions). Still, shoppers are starting to swap name brands for cheaper store brands. We’ll see whether that shows when Coke and Kraft report. Zoom Out Stories we’re watching... The downturn’s in the details… At first things looked OK when big banks reported last week: revenue [rose]( at [JPM Chase]( [Wells Fargo]( and [Citi]( thanks to inflated credit-card spending, beating forecasts. But the fine print was ugly: bank profits plunged as trading and deal-making activity slowed (think: fewer IPOs), while high interest rates plunged loan demand (think: mortgages). Banks expect it to get worse, so they’ve set aside billions to cover potential losses from loan defaults. Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expects an economic “hurricane.” The clock’s ticking… Millions of Americans will likely lose their health insurance when President Biden rolls back Covid aid policies (current expiration date: January 11). When corona was declared a public-health emergency, the government injected [billions]( into resources like free testing and hiring more hospital workers. But with the emergency status set to end early next year, nearly 15M Americans could lose subsidized programs like Medicaid, which hit record enrollment during the pandemic. With hospitals already facing staff shortages, treatment could be even harder to get. ICYMI Last week's highlights... - [CryptMo]( Over half of active exchange-traded products that track crypto launched after the bear market set in. In other words, institutional investors and tech juggernauts (think: big $$) largely haven't bailed on crypto. - [Flex]( Netflix shares popped after it said it added 2.4M subs last quarter, its first gain of the year. Now it’ll stop sharing subscriber forecasts and crack down on password moochers as it laser-focuses on revenue. - [Krogertsons]( Grocery powerhouse Kroger said it'll buy rival [Albertsons]( for $25B. The super-merger is about more than just eggs and bread; it’s also about becoming a retail ad giant. What else we're Snackin' - [Metaworse]( After spending billions on the metaverse, [Meta]( is struggling to attract users (and its own employees) to its VR-based Horizon Worlds (users have been declining since spring). This year the stock’s down more than 60%. - [Out]( British PM Liz Truss announced her resignation Thursday after just 44 days in office. Her tax-cutting plan upset the financial markets, and sent the pound plummeting. A new PM could be chosen as soon as today. - [Whynance]( Binance is the world's largest crypto exchange. It's also a web of 73+ legal entities — said to be in a bid to distract regulators — and it won't say which one oversees the main exchange. Want your Snacks daily? The Daily Newsletter Get fresh takes on financial news every week day. Try a sample: 🤳 [AT&T’s 5G-fueled boom]( • Oct 21, 2022 📺 [Netflix’s revenue stream(ing)]( • Oct 20, 2022 🏦 [Crypto's big-money believers]( • Oct 19, 2022 [Subscribe to the Daily]( Snack Fact Of the Day Some large spiders keep tiny frogs around because the frogs eat ants that threaten spiders’ eggs [Read more]( This Week - Monday: Diwali - Tuesday: Earnings expected from Microsoft, Google, Visa, Coca-Cola, Novartis, UPS, Spotify, HSBC, GE, 3M, UBS, Sherwin-Williams, GM, Valero, Chipotle, and Biogen - Wednesday: Earnings expected from Meta, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boeing, Ford, Kraft Heinz Co. - Thursday: Jobless claims. Earnings expected from Apple, Amazon, Mastercard, Merck, Shell, McDonald’s, T-Mobile, Comcast, Intel, Caterpillar, AB Inbev, Altria, Keurig Dr Pepper, and Shopify - Friday: Earnings expected from Exxon, Chevron, AbbVie, NextEra Energy, and Colgate Authors of this Snacks own: shares of AB InBev, Netflix, Twitter, Apple, GM, Ford, Google, Shopify, Spotify, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, Exxon, and Snap ID: 2529304 Robinhood Snacks newsletters reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robinhood Financial LLC (Member [SIPC]( and do not reflect the views of Robinhood Markets, Inc. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are for informational purposes only, and are not a recommendation of an investment strategy or to buy or sell any security, digital asset (cryptocurrency, etc) in any account. They are also not research reports and are not intended to serve as the basis for any investment decision. 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