New Digital Age Editor Justin Pearse sat down with Trainline’s Head of UK Ad Sales and Account Management Sam Eads to discuss the company’s recent move into retail media.
Trainline has been around for 25 years, but advertising is a relatively new focus. Can you give us an overview of how the business is evolving in the retail media space?
Trainline has long been known as the UK’s leading travel app, selling tickets on behalf of over 300 rail and coach operators. However, what we hadn’t fully utilised until recently was the vast amount of first-party data we have, including from our 12 million monthly active app users across the UK.
This presents an exciting opportunity to help brands reach engaged, high-intent audiences in a brand-safe environment.
We’ve built our advertising proposition around four key pillars: scale, brand safety, international reach, and logged-in audiences. Given everything happening in the advertising ecosystem, particularly around privacy regulations and third-party cookie deprecation, we see a huge opportunity in leveraging our data responsibly to deliver relevant and effective campaigns for advertisers and our customers.
What makes Trainline’s audience particularly appealing to advertisers?
One of the biggest advantages is that Trainline is an app that virtually everyone has on their phone.
When we speak to agencies, the first question we ask is, “Who has the Trainline installed?” and the vast majority put their hands up. It’s a trusted brand that marketers and consumers alike are familiar with, which makes it a very easy proposition to sell.
Additionally, our users are highly engaged. Unlike other digital platforms where content consumption is passive, Trainline users are actively planning trips, making bookings, and engaging with the app in ways that offer clear intent signals for advertisers.
For example, if someone is traveling to Edinburgh, we can serve them relevant ads for hotels, attractions, or even restaurants near their destination.
Trainline is not traditionally an ad-driven business. How are you ensuring ads don’t disrupt the user experience?
That’s a critical focus for us. We recognise that Trainline’s primary function is to help people book their travel, so our approach to advertising is highly considered. We work closely with our brand marketing, UX, and product teams to ensure that ads are integrated in a way that enhances rather than detracts from the user experience.
Because our ads business is still in a relatively early stage, we have the benefit of being selective in how we implement it. For instance, our ad formats are designed for high engagement and impact,100% share of voice, high viewability, and strong performance,while ensuring they do not clutter the app or disrupt the booking process.
Trainline’s reach extends beyond the UK. How does the international position fit into the advertising proposition?
While the UK remains our biggest market, we’re steadily growing across Europe, with presence in countries like Italy, France, and Spain. This allows us to offer advertisers access to multiple markets through a single partnership, making cross-border campaign activation much simpler.
Additionally, as a logged-in platform, we have a wealth of first-party data that is fully GDPR-compliant. In a privacy-conscious world where access to high-quality audience data is becoming increasingly difficult, Trainline provides a valuable solution for brands looking to reach relevant audiences in a meaningful way.
We’ve seen the rise of retail media, and now ‘commerce media’ is emerging as a new category. Where does Trainline fit into this landscape?
The lines are definitely blurring. While we share similarities with retail media networks in that we leverage first-party data to drive targeted advertising, we also fit into the broader ‘commerce media’ category, which extends beyond traditional retailers to include other transactional platforms.
There’s also the concept of ‘utility media’,companies like Trainline that offer essential services but also have valuable audience insights. In many ways, we’re at the intersection of travel media, utility media, and commerce media. The key is recognising the value of our data and how we can use it to create win-win opportunities for both advertisers and consumers.
Looking ahead, what is Trainline’s ambitions for the advertising business?
Advertising is set to be a major growth area for Trainline over the next three to five years. We’ve already made significant investments and will continue to do so as we build out our capabilities.
The response from agencies has been overwhelmingly positive,many see the unique value we bring and are keen to collaborate. Our focus now is on scaling the business in a sustainable and thoughtful way, ensuring that we maintain the integrity of our core platform while delivering high-quality advertising solutions.
We’re also exploring deeper integrations with partners, such as digital out-of-home (DOOH) providers, to create omnichannel opportunities that connect in-app advertising with real-world activations. There’s so much potential, and we’re excited to see where this journey takes us.
