Michael Provenzano Returns to Digital and Dirt: Vistar Media’s Next Big Move

Why T-Mobile is buying out-of-home ad platform Vistar Media

T-Mobile has agreed to buy Vistar Media, the programmatic out-of-home platform it already used as one of its largest clients. The appeal is measurement and retail media, since most US purchases still happen in stores and billboard measurement remains immature. For Provenzano the deal validates out-of-home as a serious channel and gives Vistar the backing to take bigger risks.

Takeaways

• T-Mobile is buying a vendor it already uses. The agreement is signed but not yet closed, with heavy legal work remaining. T-Mobile was already one of Vistar's biggest clients, using every product across buy side and sell side. The coming months focus on integrating Vistar with T-Mobile's retail media and advertising work.
• Measurement and retail media drive the deal logic. Provenzano says about 85% of US buying happens in store, which makes screens near the point of sale a retail media opportunity. Out-of-home grew at roughly 2.5% a year, and its measurement has only scratched the surface compared with the most measurable media.
• The deal had to pass two tests. It needed to be good for the out-of-home industry and for employees, whom Provenzano consulted before proceeding. He says a major consumer brand buying Vistar signals out-of-home is an important channel, and that he is staying, now freer to take aggressive bets.
• Lamar's investment proved programmatic out-of-home was real. Lamar backed Vistar three or four years before the deal, the first major out-of-home company to do so. A decade earlier nobody at industry events wanted to talk to Vistar. Its Cortex Media software now powers Lamar's digital billboards and other operators' screens.
• Partner where buyers differ, protect existing clients. Vistar partnered with mobile companies instead of building its own mobile bidder, because out-of-home and mobile buyers are different. Across more than 25 countries, Provenzano says competitors win a client then rush to the next deal, while Vistar has never abandoned a piece of software.
• Passive screens beat intrusive ads. Provenzano prefers out-of-home because it does not block content, and says repeated Lexus ads on Hulu turned him against the brand. Eric Lamb advises retailers to install one large, high-quality screen rather than many, and Provenzano calls paying $1,000 to $2,000 more for a ten-year screen sensible.

How Vistar built programmatic out-of-home

1. Opened a marketplace so buyers and sellers of out-of-home media could transact.
2. Built integrations with media owners to bring their inventory onto the platform.
3. Moved the industry to transaction-level tracking, where a coding error could let money leave the door within minutes.