In-car entertainment startup takes a backseat ride to success
Vugo, an advertising platform launched in 2015 to geotarget consumers via a tablet installed in the back of a ridehailing car, has grand plans. As the vehicle fleet goes autonomous, Vugo expects to dominate its competition by doing what it already does: calibrating content to passengers. The Minnesota-based startup, piloted in ridehail-dense Los Angeles, may leave the big car manufacturers to grapple over driver-oriented features rather than the entertaining of passengers.
Although there is nothing to stop a passenger from watching content from their own phone or tablet, Vugo has an algorithm that generates ads based on chosen content and location. With the ability to target a demographic baked in to message delivery, the benefits to advertisers are obvious. For content providers, they get sold on using Vugo with audience data, so even the entertainment content that could one day run ad-free goes to a researched audience.
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