
Waze is an innovative approach to GPS, bringing its users real-time reports on accidents in their path, vehicles on shoulders, police ahead and so much more. While Waze has innovated the way we get from point A to point B it has also developed its opportunities available to advertisers when it comes to reaching audiences on their various commutes.
Waze provides advertisers with four ways of reaching audiences through the app. The first of these is pin ads. Pin ads “alert drivers that your business is nearby, marking your location on the Waze map with important info like business address, hours, phone number, and deals,” according to Waze’s website. These ads will appear in the form of a drop-down from the top of the screen with your creative banner advertising your business or specials you may be offering at the moment.
Next, they offer the search ad. In a search ad, your business will be promoted upon the opening of a search by a user in your area and will be brought to the top of the results list once a search is entered. This allows users to be presented with your business when they are already actively searching for somewhere to go!
The third form of advertising on Waze is the zero-speed ad. A zero-speed ad will appear when a Waze user is stopped for three seconds or more. When this occurs a drop-down similar to that in a pin ad will appear promoting your business, special, and location closest to them paired with a call to action button to “drive there.”
Last but not least, the arrow ad. The arrow ad appears when users first open Waze. It also appears on the map in a small box with your logo. If users choose to click on that arrow it will direct them to your closest location providing them with directions to that location.
With all forms of advertising, Waze provides advertisers with metrics on users seeing their ads, the number of clicks your ads are receiving, and the number of navigations to your location from your ads. Waze’s own study reports that advertising on Waze has led to an average of 20% increase in navigations.
Waze offers advertisers the opportunity to target individuals based on who is driving (tourists, locals, android users, Spanish speakers etc.), where they are driving (types of places, or home/work), and what is happening around them (weather, traffic, etc.). This level of targeting helps marketers refine their markets and make sure their ad spend is making every dollar count.
With over 110 million users, there is no question Waze is a far-reaching platform, but who exactly is on it? The target audience for Waze is simply users with a phone who also drive, making the possibilities for advertising and businesses that can join the platform to advertise limitless. There are no geographic boundaries for Waze users or limits to cities in which it and it’s advertising will work best.

While the capabilities themselves of advertising on the platform sells itself to advertisers, testimonies from advertisers truly speak for themselves. Waze user and advertiser Urgent Care at Peachtree said “we’ve had several patients tell us that they saw the ad on Waze. Just one new patient a month pays for our Waze advertising budget. What I like best about Waze is the ease with which I can add or change information and the big results, in terms of impressions, actions and new business, without a big budget.”
The promise held within Waze and it’s advertising capabilities is seemingly limitless, and the innovation of ad tech specifically created for advertising on the platform itself has set a precedent for integrated advertising on platforms yet to come.

