T-Mobile’s Acquisition of DOOH Provider Vistar Media Adds to Its Ad Platforms

Telecommunications giant T-Mobile is boosting the signal of its digital out-of-home efforts with its acquisition Monday of DOOH technology solutions provider Vistar Media in a $600 million cash deal.

While T-Mobile is primarily known as a wireless carrier, it has been building up its advertising offerings for quite some time, including its 2022 acquisition of Octopus Interactive, a national network of interactive video screens inside Uber and Lyft vehicles, and its launch during last April’s NewFronts of a retail media network, alongside several other updates.

Vistar’s global network encompasses more than 1.1 million digital screens from nearly 370 OOH media owners. It works with over 3,000 brand partner advertisers.

“Combining T-Mobile’s customer-centric approach and its expertise as one of the nation’s most scaled marketers with Vistar’s leading OOH technology means advertisers can easily place their ads where they know their audience will be, improving every step of the customer journey,” senior vice president and chief T-ads officer Jean-Paul Colaco said in a statement.

The transaction is expected to close sometime during the first quarter of 2025.

According to Emarketer, DOOH will account for more than one-third of the projected $10 billion in spending on OOH advertising in the U.S. this year.

T-Mobile said Vistar’s intelligent marketplace and technology solutions for buying, selling, and managing media campaigns will be combined with the customer insights and data of its T-Mobile Advertising Solutions business, giving advertisers more addressable and measurable solutions and delivering greater efficiency and return on investment.

“T-Mobile’s belief in the future of OOH and its decision to acquire Vistar underscores the strength of this channel,” Vistar co-founder and CEO Michael Provenzano added. “Together, we have the opportunity to enhance our offerings for customers and partners globally and inspire brands to think bigger and redefine how they engage with audiences in the real world.”