In April, T-Mobile launched a retail media network that claims to reach 240 million people. The telecom company sells ads that appear on screens installed in 11,000 T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile stores. T-Mobile also sells ad placements within its app called T Life.
Jean-Paul Colaco, senior vice president and chief T-Ads officer at T-Mobile, joined last year to lead the group. Colaco is a former ad sales exec from WarnerMedia and Hulu.
T-Mobile’s ads use anonymized data from its stores and apps to target ads. The telecom company also works with ad-supported streamer Plex to serve personalized ads. In the future, T-Mobile also plans to personalize the content on Plex.
T-Mobile’s ad arm sells ads viewed on 55,000 screens within ride-sharing vehicles, with plans to have 100,000 screens available for advertisers this year.
PayPal
Executive: Mark Grether, svp and general manager of PayPal Ads
PayPal is in the process of building an ad business that will pitch its data that tracks what people buy and how they use the company’s services including the money-sharing app Venmo.
The company hired digital advertising veteran Mark Grether earlier this year as senior vice president and general manager to build out the ad business. Grether is largely credited with building a billion-dollar ad business for Uber with 500,000 advertisers. His mandate at PayPal is similar. Grether is responsible for building the ad products, sales team, and infrastructure that PayPal needs to sell targeted ads that allow advertisers to zero in on specific types of shoppers.
PayPal has an existing ad format called Advanced Offers that sends PayPal users personalized offers and discounts. But the broader goal of PayPal’s business is to sell data that’s used by advertisers to target ads outside of its platform like digital and TV ads.
Uber
Executives: Megan Ramm, head of Americas; and Paul Wright, head of international markets
