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T-Mobile Advertising Solutions dove into its first IAB NewFronts with a focus on retail media and streaming, as well as a plan to reach 240 million consumers and marketers through its screens.
The company kicked off its announcement of broader T-Mobile Advertising offerings at Moonlight Studios in New York by declaring that it is starting a retail media network within its more than 11,000 T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile locations throughout the U.S. The upwards of 20,000 retail media screens installed at those locations would supplement mobile ads offered to more than 7 million customers through T-Mobile’s T Life application.
eMarketer estimates that U.S. retail media ad spending will hit $54 billion this year, with some counting over 200 retail media networks. While Amazon has long mastered this space, multiple retail media efforts from companies including Best Buy, Instacart and Target’s Roundel have made inroads with consumers as third-party cookies begin to crumble.
According to Jean-Paul Colaco, senior vice president and chief T-Ads officer at T-Mobile—who has previously served as head of ads at WarnerMedia and Hulu—more than 28 million people come through T-Mobile’s various stores each month. Those customers would be targeted by retail media network ads using anonymized T-Mobile consumer data and through the T Life app. Members among them would be offered T-Mobile Tuesday perks that—as the company divulged at NewFronts—are now open to third-party brands.
“We have millions of people who are coming in and giving us consent to use their data, and that becomes a seed of data that we can use to project a universe and create better targeting,” Colaco said. “[On] T-Mobile Tuesdays, you can come in and showcase your brand to the millions of people who come in every Tuesday, and they actually take actions: They’ll save the actual offer. They’ll come to your retailer. They’ll bring their families. They’ll have a real impact on sales.”
Finally, T-Mobile Advertising announced that it is partnering with ad-supported streamer Plex to use its audience data to personalize ads and, eventually, content like movies and series for consumers.