389. Sundar Swaminathan. How Uber saved $35M in Ads.
Sundar Swaminathan
November 20, 2025
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In this episode, Sundar Swaminathan, former Head of Marketing Data Science at Uber and current writer and podcaster on consumer tech and marketing, shares the inside story of how his work at Uber revealed surprising truths about one of the company’s largest ad channels, and what that experience taught him about data, corporate culture, and marketing effectiveness.
The conversation is a reminder that the smartest marketing decisions often come from questioning assumptions, testing boldly, and embracing both art and science in data-driven decision making.
Key Takeaways include:
The Facebook Ad Test: In 2018, Sundar noticed unusual fluctuations in Uber’s cost per acquisition, despite flat ad spend. His analysis suggested that rider sign-ups were unaffected by the company’s Facebook ad spend.
Incrementality Matters: Through controlled testing, Sundar and his team found that Facebook’s rider acquisition campaigns in the U.S. and Canada weren’t delivering incremental sign-ups—prompting a pause in spending and freeing up $35 million to invest elsewhere.
Culture Enables Discovery: Uber’s data-obsessed and experiment-friendly culture, combined with prior exposure to ad fraud, created an environment where even junior team members, armed with a data-backed hypothesis, could propose bold tests.
Brand’s Long-Term Payoff: While performance marketing delivers quick results, brand investments compound over time. Companies need the patience—and courage—to measure brand impact across months, not days.
Practical Advice for Smaller Companies: You don’t need a full data science team to make smarter marketing decisions. With SQL, Google Sheets, and a willingness to accept 70–80% certainty, leaders can identify signals and run meaningful tests.
Sundar Swaminathan is a marketing data science leader with over a decade in consumer tech companies across many stages. He was at Uber for five years and then transitioned to earlier stage startups and scaleups. He’s also an advisor helping founders and marketers to better understand if their marketing is generating ROI.
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