ofo上线5秒短视频广告业务 合作伙伴包括可口可乐等– Tencent Tech
What happened: Troubled Chinese bike rental giant ofo just added 5-second short video ads to its main app. Nicknamed “视听风暴,” the video ads will be displayed after users scan a QR code and before they can get a code to unlock the bike. Coca-Cola and Chips Ahoy! are among the first group of brands that are using the service.
Why it’s important: In order to keep its independent status, the cash-strained bike rental giant has been exploring various means to increase its revenue. The current video ad business comes shortly after they launched bike-body ads (Shanghai, however, has banned the ads on ofo bikes) and banner ads in the main app. Different from the previous businesses, the short-video ad appears in the process for riders to use a bike, thus taping into the core business of bike rental giant. It’s clear that the ad service will sacrifice part of the user experiences. It has also drawn ire from users since they have to use their own mobile data to load the ad.