Vizio gives Walmart’s advertising business a boost

The news: Walmart completed its $2.3 billion all-cash acquisition of Vizio and its SmartCast operating system.

• While Vizio is a consumer electronics maker, Walmart wanted its software to bolster its rapidly growing retail media business. By tapping into the lucrative CTV market, Walmart aims to compete with major players like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Roku.
• Vizio will help Walmart “bring to market new and differentiated ways for advertisers to meaningfully connect with customers at scale and boost product discovery, helping brands achieve greater impact from their advertising investments with Walmart Connect,” per a press release.

The context: Walmart has been bolstering its retail media business to claim a larger share of digital advertising’s fastest-growing sector.

• Walmart Connect partnered with Disney Advertising so brands can target ads across Disney+ and Hulu using Walmart’s shopper data.
• It’s working with NBCUniversal to bring hyperspecific shoppable advertising to sports livestreams on Peacock. Walmart and NBCU teamed up again for shoppable ads during Thanksgiving Day NFL games.
• It also rolled out several Walmart Connect updates earlier this year: It offered offsite media to non-endemic brands and made its display ads available to “brands of all sizes” through the programmatic Walmart Ads marketplace.

The push appears to be working: Walmart Connect in the US grew 26% in Q3, and we expect its US advertising revenues to jump 31.6% this year.

Our take: Even without Vizio, Walmart was already leveraging its considerable strengths—data from millions of shoppers and a massive physical presence—to rapidly grow its retail media business and gain ground against its chief competitor, Amazon. For example, nearly half (46%) of marketers have used Walmart Connect this year, up from just 24% in 2023, per Digiday.

By adding Vizio and continually enhancing its capabilities, Walmart is becoming a force to be reckoned with.

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