Verizon customers can now get access to a wide range of perks, from Apple music to free Uber rides, concert tickets, or even access to movie premieres.
The perks are part of a new rewards program, called Verizon Up. For every $300 customers spend on their monthly Verizon Wireless bill, they receive a credit. Each credit is worth one reward, with some not even needing a credit, according to the page on Verizon’s website.
Sound too good to be true? That’s probably because it almost is. The Wall Street Journal reports that the program only works if customers give Verizon access to “their web-browsing history, app usage, and location data,” which is purportedly used to “personalize the rewards and deliver targeted advertising as its customers browse the web.”
The data collected under the program is shared with Oath, Verizon’s digital media unit created from the acquisition of AOL and Yahoo. With this data, ads can be tailored to users, which Verizon hopes will help increase advertising revenue.
Verizon (VZ) is the largest carrier in the U.S. With more than 114 million subscribers. It added 600,000 subscribers last quarter, and its wireless business generated $89 billion in revenue last year. But these numbers constitute a drop from the year before and Verizon’s wireless business has struggled to sustain growth year-on-year.
To offset the struggles of its wireless business, Verizon hopes to boost its advertising revenue. The company has experimented with targeted-advertising in the past, but reportedly has only 4% of the U.S. Digital advertising market. If customers decide they don’t mind giving up their personal data in return for perks, that number may just rise.
