Uber ads for business: Uber and Uber Eats advertising

This guide is built from Uber's merchant and advertising pages: Put your business front and center with ads, the Sponsored Listings FAQ, How to set up Sponsored Listings in Uber Marketing Manager and Uber Advertising. For other delivery and retail platforms, see our guides to Instacart Ads and Walmart Connect.

Two kinds of Uber ads

Uber Advertising was launched as a division in 2022. Its launch announcement listed Journey Ads in the rides app, Sponsored Listings on Uber Eats, sponsored emails and Uber Eats homepage billboards. Today the offer splits roughly in two:

• Restaurants and stores on Uber Eats buy Sponsored Listings themselves, in a self-serve tool, paying per click.
• Consumer brands (packaged goods, retail, and brands with no Uber Eats store) use display, video, takeovers and offers across the Uber and Uber Eats apps. Uber's site groups advertisers into restaurants, grocery and retail, and "Non-endemic & enterprise brands".

For most local businesses, Sponsored Listings is where to start, so most of this guide covers it.

Sponsored Listings on Uber Eats

Uber's FAQ defines them: "Uber Eats Sponsored Listings are a type of advertising that allows restaurant partners to improve their visibility and move to the top of Uber Eats listings". The Uber Eats ads page describes the result as "higher ad placements within customer feeds", with your business near the top of the app. In Uber Marketing Manager you can preview how the ad will look "in search results and category pages".

Placement is not bought outright. Uber's ads page says: "When and where your ads show up depends on your relevance to that customer and the strength of your bid compared with other businesses."

Uber Eats Manager or Uber Marketing Manager

There are two tools, and Uber is merging them over time:

• Uber Eats Manager: the Uber Eats merchant dashboard. Ads are in its Marketing tab. Uber's December 2025 update says it recommends settings automatically, so a restaurant picks locations, audience, a daily budget and duration, and launches.
• Uber Marketing Manager (formerly Uber Ads Manager), at advertiser.uber.com, with more targeting and bidding options. Uber's setup guide notes you can "Manage multiple locations in a single ad account, unlike Uber Eats Manager, which requires separate campaigns for each location".

In its 2026 product update, Uber says "Ads Manager is now Uber Marketing Manager" and that the platform "will continue evolving into a self-serve destination for advertising across Uber Eats and Uber." The same update describes Uber Ads APIs, which let POS systems and aggregators launch and measure Sponsored Listings.

Budgets and bidding

You pay per click. Uber's December 2025 article says: "You'll pay only when someone clicks your ad, and you'll never spend above your set budget." On the budget itself, Uber's pages describe two set-ups:

• Weekly budget (Uber Eats ads page): pick an amount from the options in Uber Eats Manager, "calculated based on projected monthly sales", or set your own. The campaign "will pause if you hit your weekly maximum, then it will restart the following week."
• Daily budget (December 2025 setup steps): the newer Uber Eats Manager flow asks for a daily budget, and recommends running the ad as an ongoing campaign.
• Shared budgets: the 2026 update adds one budget across several locations, with spend shifted toward the locations with more demand.

Uber says "Bidding works like an auction: Restaurants compete for top spots, and you pay only when someone clicks your ad." In Uber Eats Manager the bid is automatic by default and can be changed under Advanced options. Uber Marketing Manager offers three bid types:

• Spend-based (Auto): "Aim to spend the full budget while prioritizing the highest return".
• Goal-based: "Cap your spend by only bidding when your set target is likely to be met".
• Manual: "Set a cap for each bid while prioritizing the highest return".

Uber publishes no standard cost per click. Your cost depends on your bid, the competition in your area and your relevance to each customer.

Targeting

Ads target people inside your delivery radius. The Marketing Manager setup guide lists three audiences:

• "All Customers – Target all Uber Eats users in your delivery radius."
• "New Customers – Reach users who have never ordered from your restaurant before."
• "Returning Customers – Target past customers to encourage repeat orders."

Optional extras include order value targeting and Uber One member targeting. The 2026 update adds lapsed customers, customers new to your brand, custom audiences, people who ordered from competitor brands, and keyword targeting. Uber Eats Manager keeps it simpler: all customers or new customers only.

Ads and offers together

Uber treats ads and offers (discounts and deals) as separate tools. The FAQ says: "Sponsored listing increases your visibility with relevant Eaters. Promotion offers enhanced conversion by offering special deals and discounts directly to Eaters." You can run both at once, but "it is not possible to create a single campaign to manage sponsored listings and offers together." Uber's ads page suggests using ads to push a promotion higher in the feed.

Reporting

• Uber Eats Manager shows "sales from ads, clicks, spend, and the average cost per click", and its newer Marketing section shows sales, return on ad spend and new customers.
• The FAQ warns: "There's a 48 hour data lag on this page."
• Ad spend appears in Campaign Performance and "as Ad spend in your payment statement."
• Uber's 2026 update says eligible brands can measure incremental lift in sales, orders and new customers with their Uber representative.

Sponsored listings "run each week automatically per the budget", so you do not need to set them up again each week; you can pause or cancel at any time.

Formats for larger brands

Beyond Sponsored Listings, Uber's 2026 announcement describes formats aimed at brands:

• Brand Takeover: a full-screen placement when people open Uber Eats, "Best suited for major brand moments that include an offer".
• Item Showcase: a shoppable carousel of menu items; restaurants, "or CPG brands in partnership with a restaurant," can use it.
• Offers Spotlight: a full-screen "Top Offers for You" placement for deals.
• Offers on Uber rides: Destination Offers redeemed in store, Homescreen Ride Offers, and Ride Offers on Journey.
• Offsite Ads: campaigns on channels like Meta and Google Shopping that send people back to Uber Eats.

Uber's Marketing Manager announcement also describes Creative Studio, which builds custom campaigns such as branded rides and in-app experiences. Uber's pages do not describe a self-serve setup for these formats, so ask Uber Advertising about access.

Journey Ads and JourneyTV

Journey Ads run in the Uber rides app. The 2022 launch release said they place brand content "in front of purchase-minded audiences as they transact throughout their journey – while waiting for their driver and during their trip."

JourneyTV is the in-car tablet. Uber's JourneyTV specs say it "can display as both full screen and widget screen, including up to 8 cards of video and static assets plus an optional send-to-phone feature or custom CTA." Key specs:

• 16:9, up to 1280 x 720 px.
• Video 15 to 120 seconds, up to 10 MB.
• Headline and body copy 50 characters each; call to action 20 characters or "Send to phone".

Uber's creative best practices advise: "Stick to ultra-short copy (1–2 words), particularly in Journey Ads."

How we start an Uber Eats ad campaign

This is our own practice, not Uber's guidance:

• We fix the menu photos, prices and store hours on Uber Eats first, since an ad sends people to the store page.
• We start with one Sponsored Listing on a small weekly or daily budget, targeting new customers, with automatic bidding.
• We wait at least two weeks (allowing for the 48-hour data lag) and compare ad sales with ad spend after Uber's fees and the restaurant's food cost, not on sales alone.
• We test an offer alongside the ad only after the ad alone has a baseline.

If you want help with delivery-app or local advertising, see our services.

Frequently asked questions

What are Uber Eats Sponsored Listings?

Paid placements that move a restaurant or store higher in the Uber Eats app, in the feed and search. You pay per click, inside a budget you set.

How much do Uber Eats ads cost?

You set the budget, and pay per click in an auction against other businesses. Uber publishes no standard click price; Uber Eats Manager suggests budget options based on projected sales.

Where do I create Uber Eats ads?

In the Marketing tab of Uber Eats Manager, or in Uber Marketing Manager (formerly Uber Ads Manager) at advertiser.uber.com, which suits several locations in one account.

Can I run ads and an offer at the same time?

Yes. They are separate campaigns, but Uber suggests using ads to make a promotion more visible.

What are Uber Journey Ads?

Ads in the Uber rides app shown while riders wait for their driver and during the trip, plus JourneyTV on in-car tablets. Uber presents them as a brand format, sold through Uber Advertising.

For other delivery and retail ad platforms, see DoorDash ads, Instacart Ads, Walmart Connect and Amazon Ads. To plan a campaign with us, see our services.