Flightradar24

Mats Lidgren, Yield Manager

Stockholm, Sweden

2023

How Flightradar24 soared to success

Flightradar24 helps 4 million daily users track aircraft in real time and review historical flight data. Founded in 2006, its global recognition came to the fore in 2010 when it showcased the massive disruption to air traffic caused by the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Their most tracked flight to date, with nearly 5 million followers, was in November 2022 as Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin was flown from Edinburgh to London.

Aiming for the skies

Flightradar24 is a Swedish company that provides real-time flight tracking data. The company was founded in 2006 by two aviation enthusiasts who wanted to create a way for people to track aircraft in real time. The company now has over 35,000 receivers in over 223 countries and territories, and it tracks over 250,000 flights per day. "The original founders started this as a hobby and it eventually became a business," says Mats Lidgren, who leads Yield Management at the company. "They literally had receivers on their roofs and monitored air traffic. That has since expanded to thousands of receivers in homes, businesses, and airports around the world that send data to us and give us the ability to track flights in real-time all over the world."

Flightradar24 is a valuable resource for aviation enthusiasts and businesses alike. The company's data can be used to track aircraft movement, plan flights and monitor air traffic. Flightradar24 is a reliable and accurate source of flight tracking data, and it’s an essential tool for anyone interested in aviation. "We have everyone from novices to power users," Mats says.

Flightradar24's revenue comes from various sources, including advertising, subscriptions, and B2B flight data sales. "Most of our users are on the free tier, we use ad revenue to fund ad-supported access to the site," says Mats. "That revenue really enables us to develop our apps and expand our business."

“Most of our users are on the free tier, we use ad revenue to fund ad-supported access to the site.”

Taking off on their Google partnership

For their ads business, Flightradar24 chose to partner with Google. "We use Google Ad Manager to manage our ads, the platform and the Google team have been so easy to work with," Mats says. "And we started using Open Bidding to increase competition for our inventory and connect with other ad platforms."

To support their growing team, Flightradar24 also turns to Google’s tools. "We use Google Workspace for all of our work - it makes everything so easy to collaborate and connect with teammates," Mats says.

Climbing to new heights

As they look ahead, the Flightradar24 team is focused on keeping tabs on all the planes you see in the sky. They’ve created ways for users to filter by aircraft category and filter for specific situations. "We’re really excited about all the new features and grateful for our audience to test and share feedback with us," says Mats.

About the Publisher

Mats Lidgren is the Yield Manager of Flightradar24, a global flight tracking service that provides real-time information on thousands of aircraft worldwide. He joined the team in 2019 and is responsible for investigative insights and analysis, technical adjustments, strategic optimization and surfacing opportunities within all programmatic platforms with the goal of maximizing yield for digital ad revenue.