The airline, which transported 145 million travelers in 2022, will now take advantage of that audience to show advertising on flights
During the last decade, video streaming services allowed us to get rid of the annoying advertising that plagued traditional television broadcasts, but in recent months we have seen how plans with ads are now a constant: it doesn’t matter if you pay, because you will see something of advertising. That practice is even extending to air travel.
Advertising while you fly. As indicated on CNBC, United Airlines has launched Kinective Media, a new platform that will help the company show advertisements from different companies to passengers. To achieve this, advertising will be displayed on the screens located at the back of the seats.
A claim for advertisers. The airline highlights that this new platform makes it possible to take advantage of “potentially three and a half hours of attention for each traveler, depending on the average flight time” of its planes. Advertisements can therefore appear during these trips, something that until now airlines have not taken advantage of.
Screens everywhere. Rear-seat screens were until now present on the airline’s larger, more modern planes, but United Airlines is in the midst of a major upgrade to the cabins of its most compact planes. The objective, of course, is that its entire fleet can be used to take advantage of this commercial initiative.
A huge potential audience. The reach of those advertisements is important, especially considering the number of passengers who use the airline each year. In 2022, United Airlines boarded 144.3 million travelers, making these flights an attractive target for advertisers.
And also in the mobile app. The airline will also take advantage of the mobile application in which we consult our flight information or make arrangements with our reservations to display advertisements. They have already reached agreements with Norwegian Cruise Line, Macy’s, IHG Hotels / Resorts, TelevisaUnivision or JPMorgan Chase.
Taking advantage of what they know about you. The initiative takes advantage of the fact that airlines have interesting data about travelers and use it to suggest, for example, experiences such as cruises, shopping in stores or stays in hotels of their advertisers’ chains. Richard Nunn, CEO of United Airlines’ miles program, explained that this information allows them to market “in a way that is highly personalized and very relevant, and we are already seeing impressive results.”
But users can disable personalized ads. The airline does allow its customers to deactivate the option (“opt-out”) and not see personalized ads. They also ensure that advertisers cannot access personal information that could be used to identify their clients.
Image | Suhyeon Choi
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