• by Colin Kirkland , 4 hours ago

TikTok’s “Out of Phone” ad program, which invites brands and creators to present their in-app content on screens beyond mobile, is expanding to additional real-world placements via a partnership with digital out-of-home (DOOH) media company Vistar Media.

Recently acquired by T-Mobile for $600 million as part of the T-Mobile Advertising Solutions unit, Vistar Media controls over 1.1 million digital out-of-home placement, as of January 2025, per an eMarketer report.

With many of these placements appearing in high-traffic locations like New York’s Times Square, TikTok’s partnership with Vistar marks a strategic move to bring its Out of Phone initiative to new high-visibility spaces while utilizing Vistar’s DOOH technology suite.

Vistar offers functionality for TikTok content to be delivered programmatically across large-format screens, urban panels, shopping malls, and more.

TikTok first worked with Vistar in 2024, carrying out various Out of Phone programs, working with Vistar's Creative Studio to design and produce platform-native content tailored for DOOH.

“OOH has become a natural extension of mobile,” stated Lucy Markowitz, SVP & GM of Americas Marketplace at Vistar. “Brands can take the ideas they are already investing in and extend them into moments of real-world attention, whether that's a commute, a store visit, or time spent out with friends.”

Building upon early OOH content offerings, TikTok launched its Out of Phone ad initiative in 2023 as a way to bring in-app video content to screens on billboards, kiosks, cinemas, bars, restaurants, cars, airports, gas stations, retail stores, and more – almost anywhere consumers are looking.

“Our goal is to make TikTok ubiquitous,” Dan Page, global head of media and licensing partnerships at TikTok, told MediaPost at the time. “There are over two billion ‘New Screens’ outside of mobile and our goal is to be on all of them.”

In addition to early Out of Phone partners -- ReachTV, GSTV, and Vevo -- TikTok began offering brands ad placements with Curb, Westfield Malls, Rockbot, and Hope Hydration last summer.