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T-Mobile Enhances Marketing Capabilities and Expands Advertising Solutions with Close of Vistar Media and Announcement of Blis Acquisitions

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T-Mobile Enhances Marketing Capabilities and Expands Advertising Solutions with Close of Vistar Media and Announcement of Blis Acquisitions
News

News

T-Mobile Enhances Marketing Capabilities and Expands Advertising Solutions with Close of Vistar Media and Announcement of Blis Acquisitions

2025-03-05 22:03 Last Updated At:22:33

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 5, 2025--

T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) today announced the completion of its acquisition of Vistar Media, the leading provider of technology solutions for digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, and the acquisition of Blis, an innovative provider of powerful and privacy-centric advertising solutions. These strategic acquisitions reinforce the company’s commitment to transforming advertising through its T-Mobile Advertising Solutions (T-Ads) business by creating comprehensive solutions that unlock better, more relevant ad experiences for consumers, greater value for marketers, and meaningful growth for the business.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250304217173/en/

“Acquiring Vistar Media and Blis marks a significant step forward in T-Mobile’s strategy to create truly transformative advertising solutions that are built by marketers for marketers,” said JP Colaco, SVP and Chief T-Ads Officer, T-Mobile. “Advertising is at its best when it cultivates deeper, authentic connections between brands and consumers. With the addition of Vistar and Blis, T-Mobile has an incredible opportunity to deliver this experience along the customer journey with privacy-centric solutions that drive targeted, measurable outcomes.”

Vistar's advanced programmatic out-of-home platform will help T-Ads change the game in DOOH advertising. With T-Mobile’s unique customer insights and data, Vistar’s end-to-end tech platform and scale will seamlessly connect digital messaging to real-world environments, amplifying reach and engagement and improving the measurability of campaigns. Blis will bolster the Un-carrier’s ability to deliver more addressable omnichannel advertising with future-proof, cookie-less technology and targeting capabilities, enhancing T-Mobile’s own marketing efforts and offering a comprehensive, privacy-centric solution for other brands. By directly connecting advertisers to ad inventory across any screen, the Blis platform complements T-Mobile’s end-to-end capabilities, making the company’s campaigns more efficient and empowering advertisers to reach more consumers in a fragmented advertising landscape, especially as traditional signals like cookies continue to diminish.

“Joining T-Mobile marks an exciting new chapter for Blis and a significant step forward in our mission to reshape advertising with privacy-first, future-proof technology,” said Greg Isbister, CEO, Blis. “With Blis’ advanced omnichannel targeting capabilities alongside T-Mobile’s scale and rich dataset, we’re even better positioned to directly connect advertisers to premium inventory across all screens. As traditional signals reduce, we’re proud to be at the forefront of innovation, ensuring advertisers can continue to reach and engage audiences effectively.”

“As one of the largest advertisers in the U.S., T-Mobile manages complex campaigns across multiple business units and products,” said Vinayak Hegde, Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, T-Mobile. “That means we need ad solutions that are both consumer-friendly and capable of delivering results at scale. Our early pilots with Blis showed us the power of its addressability, especially on mobile devices where standard identifiers fall short. It’s a key addition to our broader suite of ad tech partners and we’re excited about its potential—not just for T-Mobile’s own campaigns, but for other marketers as well.”

As part of its strategic framework for growing new businesses, the Un-carrier leverages its unique assets – embedded customer relationships, broad distribution, strong brand affinity and the most advanced 5G network – to unlock opportunities that meet clear customer needs in new areas. In the advertising space, the company has successfully evolved internal innovations into distinctive solutions that generate over $1 billion in annual revenue. These acquisitions further expand and accelerate the growth of this business and are expected to contribute approximately $250 million in revenue, $75 million in EBITDA, and $50 million in free cash flow this year, representing additional upside to the company’s financial guidance.

T-Mobile paid approximately $175 million in cash to acquire Blis, before customary adjustments. The transaction successfully closed on March 3, 2025. T-Mobile’s acquisition of Vistar Media was completed on February 3, 2025.

Advisors

Allen & Company LLC is serving as T-Mobile’s financial advisor with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP serving as T-Mobile’s legal counsel on the two transactions. Canaccord Genuity is serving as financial advisor to Vistar Media with Lowenstein Sandler LLP as Vistar Media’s legal counsel. Houlihan Lokey is serving as financial advisor to Blis with DLA Piper serving as Blis’ legal counsel.

About T-MobileUS, Inc.

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is America’s supercharged Un-carrier, delivering an advanced 4G LTE and transformative nationwide 5G network that will offer reliable connectivity for all. T-Mobile’s customers benefit from its unmatched combination of value and quality, unwavering obsession with offering them the best possible service experience and undisputable drive for disruption that creates competition and innovation in wireless and beyond. Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, and Mint Mobile. For more information please visit: https://www.t-mobile.com.

About Blis

Blis is a radically different advertising platform that structures data based on geography rather than identity, linking real-world actions to digital behaviors. Our advanced omnichannel targeting capabilities enable advertisers to connect with audiences often missed by ID-based solutions, ensuring greater accuracy and efficiency. Blis remains at the forefront of innovation, delivering future-proof technology that drives measurable performance and helps advertisers reach and engage audiences across all screens. Founded in the UK in 2004, Blis employs over 300 global employees across 14 offices in 11 countries.

About Vistar Media

Vistar Media is the home of out-of-home – providing brands, marketers and media owners with the world’s first truly intelligent platform for buying and selling OOH. Vistar hosts the world’s most extensive digital out-of-home inventory globally, offering the scale, data and expertise that allow brands to capture a better kind of attention. With a full suite of platforms to choose from – demand-side platform, supply-side platform, traditional OOH planning tool, ad server and OOH player– Vistar has built the world’s largest marketplace for OOH transactions. Headquartered in New York, Vistar has a presence in more than 30 countries, working with hundreds of brand marketers and media owner networks to power an OOH that’s both timeless and future-proof. For more information, visit www.vistarmedia.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Adding Vistar and Blis to T-Mobile’s Advertising Solutions business strengthens the Un-carrier’s digital advertising portfolio and unlocks better experiences for consumers while creating more comprehensive and impactful services for marketers (Graphic: Business Wire)

Adding Vistar and Blis to T-Mobile’s Advertising Solutions business strengthens the Un-carrier’s digital advertising portfolio and unlocks better experiences for consumers while creating more comprehensive and impactful services for marketers (Graphic: Business Wire)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.

Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.

By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.

“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”

Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.

It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.

Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.

Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.

“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.

Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.

The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.

Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.

When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.

Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.

“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”

Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.

“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”

And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.

Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.

Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.

While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.

Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.

Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.

“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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