United Airlines Customers Should Get Ready For A New In-Flight Ad Experience

United Airlines has announced that it launched Kinective Media by United Airlines, a media network that uses travelers’ insights to connect them with real-time advertising that has been personalized according to their behavior. The airline is planning to display advertisements on its app and in-flight entertainment (IFE) screens.

Receiving additional value

While showing more advertisements to consumers might not seem like the best value proposition, United Airlines said it expected the members of its loyalty program, MileagePlus, would receive additional value through more personalized and real-time offers and experiences that should drive even greater loyalty to the program.

Still, the carrier explained that the Kinective Media by United Airlines platform will give marketers an opportunity to scale their reach across a wide range of channels, including the carrier’s mobile app and IFE screens.

Photo: Wenjie Zheng | Shutterstock

The company pointed out that Kinective Media is already working with some high-profile brands such as Norwegian Cruise Line, Macy’s, Chase United Co-Brand Credit Cards, TelevisaUnivision, IHG Hotels & Resorts, and advertising agencies.

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Connecting to premium audiences

According to Richard Nunn, the chief executive officer (CEO) of MileagePlus, the company has built a unique, real-time, and adtech-enabled traveler media network. On it, brands have already started connecting to premium audiences at an unprecedented scale, Nunn highlighted.

“Unlike some commerce media platforms, United gives brands across a wide range of industries the ability to reach engaged customers throughout the entire marketing funnel – from brand consideration to conversion – in a way that’s highly personalized and relevant, and we’re already seeing impressive results.”

The loyalty program’s CEO continued that there has been a huge strategic shift within this sector in the past five years. Now, advertisers and brands have been working together to determine the best ways to connect with consumers with personalized, effective, and valuable advertisements.

Photo: United Airlines

However, United Airlines emphasized that Kinective Media will not have access to information that would personally identify a passenger. Instead, it leverages insights of US-based consumers aged over 180 to create aggregated and anonymous audience segments that it offers to advertisers, with all customers being able to opt out of the targeted adverts.

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Using United Airlines channels

The carrier pointed out that advertisers would be able to use two of its most impactful media channels, namely its app, IFE screens, and others. According to United Airlines, these channels are some of the most “addressable media assets” in the industry.

Photo: United Airlines

According to the airline, its passengers accumulated over 110 million total downloads across Apple and Android operating systems, with the app having just shy of 100 million sessions per month. In addition, with nearly 100,000 seatback IFE screens across its fleet, advertisers could potentially have 3.5 hours of attention per traveler, a figure that was based on the average flight time.

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