TikTok Expands Out of Phone Campaigns to Over a Million New Placements via Vistar Media Partnership

TikTok has announced a new partnership with Vistar Media that will enable advertising partners to extend their TikTok ad campaigns to more than a million additional, high-traffic placements beyond the app. The collaboration expands TikTok’s existing “Out of Phone” ad extension option, giving brands more opportunities to showcase their TikTok campaigns in public viewing areas.

According to reporting from eMarketer, as of January 2025 Vistar Media controlled more than 1.1 million digital out-of-home placements, including ad space in New York’s Times Square and other prominent locations. That represents a significant increase in the number of venues where TikTok promotions can appear outside the app itself.

The partnership could also facilitate new types of ad content, building on TikTok video clips. As TikTok explained to SMT: “Instead of repurposing TikTok content for billboards, [Out of Phone] campaigns are being reworked for the physical environment, from format and creative to how they show up across different markets. It points to a broader shift in how social platforms are evolving. The focus is moving beyond distribution and into how campaigns are built and extended across channels, connecting mobile behavior with real-world environments and using OOH to amplify what’s already happening in-feed.”

TikTok launched its Out of Home ad extension program in October 2023, with its initial focus being billboards, cinemas and restaurants. The company has since expanded the initiative to shopping malls, in-flight promotions on airlines, and even ads at water refilling stations across the U.S.

TikTok has also added more creative options, with the incorporation of UGC into Out of Home campaigns. The partnership with Vistar will further build on this, providing a wider scope of placement options, as well as new promotional approaches built on learnings from past campaigns.