Vistar Media
- Role
- DOOH-native SSP plus DSP; largest place-based supply aggregator; owned by T-Mobile
- Pricing model
- Programmatic transactions through its DSP or third-party DSPs; take rates not published
- Cheapest published rate
- Quote-only. Fees set per agreement. Vistar Media 2026
- Recent changes
- Acquired by T-Mobile (announced January 2025 at roughly $600M, closed 2025); carrier movement data now part of the targeting pitch.
- Checked
- 2026-07-31 against www.vistarmedia.com
Both sides of the pipe
Vistar runs an SSP (aggregating screens, strongest in place-based venues) and a DSP (buying them), plus ad-serving infrastructure Vistar Media 2026. Buyers touch it two ways: directly through its DSP, or invisibly when another DSP routes a bid through Vistar's SSP. Either way it is a fee hop in the stack; how a bid actually flows is drawn out in what is pDOOH.
The T-Mobile angle
T-Mobile announced the Vistar acquisition in January 2025 at roughly $600M and closed it that year T-Mobile Newsroom 2025. The pitch since: carrier movement data feeding screen-level audience targeting. Two planner notes, same sentence as the pitch: ask which data segments are actually available in your buy and under what consent basis, and remember a data fee is one more unpublished line in the stack; get it quoted in writing.
When Vistar is the right tool
- Place-based plans: the deepest venue aggregation (gyms, bars, pharmacies, offices); see place-based.
- Multi-network flights where one insertion order beats five network contracts.
- Not for: guaranteed landmark units and spectaculars, which stay direct (route decision).
Head-to-head with the other DOOH-native stack: Vistar vs Hivestack.