Uber and Lyft Maintain Holiday Momentum into 2023

Key Takeaways:

• As rideshare apps lapped post-pandemic comps in 2022, the deterioration of the macro environment coupled with elevated fuel costs (likely leading to higher trip costs) prompted a noticeable slowdown in user growth on rideshare apps and their corresponding driver apps

  • Per ST estimates, 4Q22 MAUs on Uber and Lyft were each up 6% YoY, respectively, vs +20% and +51% YoY in 4Q21, continuing a deceleration from prior quarters as post-pandemic growth deteriorated. Further complicating the recovery to a pre-pandemic baseline for Uber and Lyft, MAU totals in 4Q22 were down 28% and 31% vs 4Q19 estimates, respectively

  • The Uber Driver and Lyft Driver apps exhibited similar trends with 4Q22 MAUs up 11% YoY (vs +31% YoY in 4Q21) and down 16% YoY (vs +5% in 4Q21), respectively

  • MAU totals on the Uber Driver app in 4Q22 were up 28% vs 4Q19, while MAUs on the Lyft Driver app were down 33% vs 4Q19. This indicates that Uber enjoyed a significant increase in its supply of drivers in 2022 vs the pre-pandemic period, which bodes well for the company to capitalize on busy seasons such as summer and winter holidays

• Holiday travel drove higher levels of engagement and loyalty at both Uber and Lyft, though the choice between apps was likely driven by margin-dilutive promotions, average trip cost at the time booked, and general user preference

  • Per ST estimates, the average time spent per user on Uber and Lyft in Dec’22 was up 3% and 4% YoY, respectively, as both services benefited from a busier holiday travel season in 2022 vs 2021

  • Further reinforcing how users relied on rideshare apps during the winter travel season, Sensor Tower Churn Analysis indicates that average MoM user churn dropped 5pps for Uber in Dec’22 vs Nov’22 and2pps in Dec’22 vs Nov’22 for Lyft

• Potentially driven by more commuters and business travelers in 2022 vs 2021, users who opened rideshare apps 15+ days/month were up: Per Sensor Tower Power User Curve data, ~4.83% of users opened Uber 15+ days/month in 4Q22 vs 4.17% and 3.17% in 4Q21 and 4Q20, respectively, while that same percentage on Lyft was 2.03% in 4Q22 vs 1.53% and 1.10 in 4Q21 and 4Q20, respectively

For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.