Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Hard not to lead today with the story that T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) has announced that it has acquired Blis, considering that we told you the day before that was going to happen. This of course follows the news in the middle of January that T-Mobile had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vistar Media (which it also announced that it had ‘closed’ yesterday).
The release said that 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.
“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 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 USD 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, USD 75 million in EBITDA, and USD 50 million in free cash flow this year, representing additional upside to the company’s financial guidance.
“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.”
T-Mobile paid approximately USD 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.
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.
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