The telecom behemoth T-Mobile said Wednesday that it had completed an agreement on Monday to pay around $175 million in cash to acquire Blis, an adtech business that specializes in location-based advertising.
Blis’ technology uses privacy-conscious techniques for location-based ad targeting instead of identifiers like third-party cookies. T-Mobile thinks the business’s skills will enhance its current advertising division, which brings in more than $1 billion a year.
“Blis’ technology demonstrates the power of addressability in mobile—and is stepping in to provide a viable means of targeting amid widespread signal loss on the open web,” said Vinayak Hegde, CMO at T-Mobile.
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“We’re thrilled about its potential—not just for T-Mobile’s own campaigns, but for other marketers as well,” he said, describing it as a crucial addition to our larger array of adtech partners.
On February 3, T-Mobile also revealed that it had successfully completed the $600 million purchase of digital out-of-home adtech business Vistar Media. Advertisers can purchase and track digital ads on billboards, transit displays, and other out-of-home screens using Vistar’s programmatic technology.
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According to a news statement from the company’s senior vice president and chief T-Ads officer, JP Colaco, the purchases collectively constitute “a significant step forward in T-Mobile’s strategy to create truly transformative advertising solutions that are built by marketers for marketers.” “When it fosters more genuine and profound relationships between businesses and consumers, advertising is at its best. T-Mobile has a fantastic chance to provide this experience along the customer journey with privacy-centric solutions that produce specific, quantifiable results with the integration of Vistar and Blis.
This year, the company anticipates that the acquisitions will increase EBITDA by $75 million and revenue by $250 million.
The developments show how the mobile carrier is working to create a strong adtech practice in addition to its main cellular business. The company started a retail media division last year, which allowed for advertising on its 20,000 in-store screens. Two years prior, Octopus Interactive, a nationwide network of video screens installed in Lyft and Uber cars, was acquired by T-Mobile.
T-Mobile is expanding the ecosystem it has established to link advertisers with premium inventory across mobile, in-store, out-of-home, and connected TV displays with the acquisition of Blis and Vistar.
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Hegde of T-Mobile stated in a statement, “As one of the biggest advertisers in the U.S., T-Mobile manages complex campaigns across multiple business units and products.” “This implies that we require advertising solutions that are both user-friendly and scalable.”
In a press release, Blis CEO Greg Isbister expressed his confidence that the collaboration will pay off, stating: “We’re even better positioned to directly connect advertisers to premium inventory across all screens with Blis’ advanced omnichannel targeting capabilities alongside T-Mobile’s scale and rich dataset.”
The T-Mobile Advertising Solutions division finalized the new purchases.
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