The journey is becoming the media as Virgin and Uber target passengers

The once fairly mundane business of getting from A to B is rapidly becoming a media channel in its own right.

Virgin Australia is the latest travel business to turn its passenger journey into an advertising proposition, launching a new media network spanning its airport lounges, digital ecosystem, in-flight Wi-Fi and even entire aircraft.

It comes less than 12 hours after Uber Advertising used its Sydney upfront to make a remarkably similar pitch. It wants brands inside the car journey too, with branded vehicles, sponsored upgrades, product sampling, destination offers and technology that can even give passengers the option of changing their destination and heading directly to an advertiser's store.

Passengers, it seems, are media moments now.

For Virgin, the opportunity is substantial. Its new Virgin Australia Travel Media Network gives advertisers access to almost 21 million annual customers across a controlled environment stretching from travel planning to the airport lounge and onto the aircraft itself.

Content and commercial agency Suddenly has been appointed to manage advertising sales, with brands able to buy digital screens across Virgin's seven major airport lounges, lounge activations, websites and digital channels, with targeted email and in-flight Wi-Fi sponsorships also being introduced.

Then there are the bigger ideas, including pop-up experiences, sampling, sponsored in-flight experiences and potentially wrapping an entire Virgin aircraft in a brand. The airline says more than 300,000 people pass through its lounges each month, spending an average of 70 minutes there.

It's a particularly attractive proposition because these aren't anonymous eyeballs passing a billboard. Virgin knows its customers, where they're travelling and when, and controls much of the environment around them.

Virgin Australia chief marketing and sustainability officer Libby Minogue said the network would open new parts of the customer journey to brands.

“Virgin Australia has a unique relationship with millions of Australians, and our Travel Media Network will give brands new ways to be part of the customer journey in relevant and engaging environments,” Minogue said.

“Importantly, it’s about creating value on both sides by giving brands access to our audiences in new and meaningful ways, while enhancing the experiences we create for our customers and guests.”

Suddenly retail media director Jennifer Stokes went further, describing the attraction as an audience effectively removed from much of the clutter surrounding conventional advertising.

“The Virgin Australia Travel Media Network gives brands something genuinely rare: an uncluttered environment with an audience that is present, engaged and open to discovery,” Stokes said.

“For brands that want to reach a premium audience at scale, this network is a compelling addition to any media plan.”

Uber wants the journey too

Virgin isn't alone in spotting the opportunity.

Just hours after Virgin unveiled its network at News Australia's Beyond ’27 Travel event on Thursday morning, Uber Advertising was pitching Australian marketers on an expanded suite of products designed around many of the same principles.

Uber and Uber Eats now reach more than 10 million Australian adults each month, according to the company, generating first-party signals based on where people travel, what they search for and what they order.

At its 2026 Upfront in Sydney on Wednesday night, Uber unveiled new ways of turning those signals, and the physical journey itself, into advertising.

Its new Homepage format gives a single advertiser prominent access as users open the app, while sponsored upgrades can put selected passengers into a premium Uber ride courtesy of a brand. Branded Cars turn vehicles into both rider experiences and moving out-of-home advertising, while Sampling can put products directly into customers' hands.

Its Creative Studio is packaging those capabilities under the proposition “Bring us the brief, not the format”, effectively asking advertisers to think about what Uber can physically make happen rather than which ad unit they want to buy.

One of its more unusual products takes that idea remarkably literally.

Uber's new Redirect format can serve customers an offer from a nearby advertiser and then give them the option of changing their original drop-off location to travel directly to the advertiser's store or venue.

In other words, the ad doesn't simply tell you where to shop. It can potentially take you there.

Uber Advertising acting head of agency sales Australia and New Zealand Lara Brownlow said the business was increasingly focused on turning advertising into action.

“Great advertising is not about passive reach, it’s about creating action and forming connections with your current and future customers,” Brownlow said.

“Every order and search in the app generates first-party signals based on what people actually do, not inferred interests or stitched-together third-party profiles.”

Uber said research presented at the upfront found 76% of its weekly users had taken a real-world action because of an ad they had encountered on the platform.

Beyond the passenger

Uber is also pushing further into sport and entertainment with new Fan Experience packages designed to let advertisers buy into the entire journey around major cultural events.

Rather than simply reaching someone at a game, brands can potentially appear as they plan the outing, travel to the venue, order during the event, celebrate afterwards and travel home.

The packages combine journey takeovers, branded vehicles, sampling, offers and pick-up and drop-off activations, with different sponsorship tiers providing varying levels of share of voice.

“For fans the sports experience is about much more than just the match,” Uber Advertising head of strategic verticals ANZ Erin Holt said.

“They plan, travel, shop, eat, meet friends and celebrate or commiserate afterwards. Every one of those rituals creates a moment where a brand can add something useful or memorable.”

It's a remarkably similar argument to the one increasingly being made across other parts of the media industry: the valuable audience isn't necessarily confined to the traditional media moment.

For Uber, that's the time surrounding the ride. For Virgin, it's everything from planning a trip to sitting in the lounge and boarding the aircraft.

Both also possess something marketers increasingly covet: large logged-in audiences, first-party behavioural signals and physical environments in which they can connect an advertising message with something happening in the real world.

Welcome aboard. Please fasten your seatbelt and prepare to be targeted.