Walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business, and the move signals much more than another big retail merger. It shows how retail media, connected TV, and first party shopper data are colliding into one of the most powerful advertising engines in the market. For brands, agencies, and even smaller ecommerce players, this deal changes the map for how we plan media, measure performance, and reach customers across screens.
Why Walmart Bought Vizio For 2.3 Billion Dollars
When Walmart announced that it would acquire Vizio for 2.3 billion dollars in cash, a lot of people first saw it as a hardware play. But the real value lives in Vizio’s SmartCast operating system, its built in advertising tech stack, and the direct access to tens of millions of TV viewers. We have watched this pattern before with Amazon and Fire TV, and Walmart is clearly following a similar logic, but with its own twist built around physical stores and grocery.
According to Vizio’s 2023 annual filings, the company had more than 18 million active SmartCast accounts and generated over 500 million dollars in high margin “Platform Plus” revenue, mostly from advertising and data. Hardware margins on TVs are thin. Ad and data margins are not. Walmart is not buying a TV brand, it is buying a fully functioning connected TV ad platform with a rapidly growing user base.
Based on current adtech trends, we expect three main reasons drove the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business decision:
- Walmart wants direct control of a living room media channel, not just retail shelf space.
- Retail media networks need more premium inventory to keep growing, and CTV fits perfectly.
- Cookie loss and privacy rules push advertisers toward closed ecosystems with strong first party data.
In our experience, companies that combine commerce data with media access tend to win bigger brand budgets and lock in long term relationships. Walmart Connect, paired with Vizio’s SmartCast, sets up exactly that type of closed loop environment.
How The Acquisition Strengthens Walmart Connect
Walmart Connect is Walmart’s internal advertising business, already pulling more than 3.4 billion dollars in ad revenue in fiscal 2024, according to company earnings. That was a 30 percent year over year increase, making Walmart one of the fastest growing retail media networks in the United States. By closing the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business deal, Walmart adds a powerful CTV layer to this engine.
From Product Ads To Full Funnel Media
Walmart Connect originally grew around onsite sponsored products, search ads, and display placements on Walmart.com and the Walmart app. That covers lower funnel buyers who are close to purchase. Vizio brings upper funnel and mid funnel reach on big screens in the home.
With this acquisition, brands will be able to run a national CTV campaign on Vizio SmartCast that is directly linked to Walmart sales data. That means they can:
- Target audiences based on Walmart’s rich shopper segments, not just generic demographics.
- Measure how many exposed households actually bought the product in Walmart online or in store.
- Optimize creative and media toward real sales outcomes instead of only reach or video completion rate.
For a CPG brand trying to gain share in snacks, beverages, or home care, this is very attractive. We expect media planners to shift more budget to Walmart CTV formats if the measurement is transparent and lift studies prove incremental sales.
Closing The Loop With First Party Shopper Data
One of the strongest assets Walmart brings into this deal is its massive pool of first party data. With more than 4,600 stores in the US, 240 million weekly customers globally, and a growing ecommerce base, Walmart knows what people buy, how often, and in many cases, how they respond to promotions.
Vizio on its own had viewership data and household device level information, but limited retail conversion visibility. When walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business, it fuses these data sets. In a privacy compliant way, Walmart can match households that watch certain content or see certain ads with their downstream purchase behavior at Walmart.
For advertisers, that means:
More accurate audience modeling, better attribution, and cleaner insights about which channels truly drive incremental sales. Compared with open web display or even linear TV, this is a major step up in clarity. If Walmart manages consent properly and runs opt in tools clearly, this combined data graph will be a core competitive edge vs Amazon, Kroger Precision Marketing, Target’s Roundel, and Instacart Ads.
What Changes For Brands And Advertisers
When we talk with brands and agency teams, most of them already invest in retail media. But they usually treat retail media as a separate line item, focused on last click sales and onsite paid search. The walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business will push advertisers to think about Walmart as a full funnel media partner, not just a shopper marketing channel.
More CTV Inventory Connected To Commerce
Vizio’s SmartCast OS already carries premium streaming apps, free ad supported streaming TV (FAST) channels, and a growing library of ad slots across the interface. By putting Walmart Connect in charge of monetizing that inventory, brands may see:
- New ad formats: Home screen takeovers, sponsored rows, shoppable CTV units tied to Walmart.
- Bundle deals: Combined packages across Walmart.com onsite, in app, and Vizio CTV.
- Better forecasting: one central team controlling impressions, frequency, and reach curves.
From our experience helping ecommerce brands manage cross channel campaigns, when a single partner can coordinate digital shelf, search, display, and CTV, it reduces fragmentation and wasted overlap. There is still risk of over reliance on any one walled garden, but the efficiency gains are real.
Deeper Measurement And Incrementality Testing
One of the big promises behind walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business is improved attribution. Walmart will be able to run controlled experiments where one set of Vizio households see a CTV campaign and another similar group does not. Then the company can measure the difference in Walmart sales between the two groups.
Brands can then see not just click through or impressions, but incremental sales lift. For example, a cereal brand may discover that a certain creative sequence shown three times over two weeks to Vizio users generates a 4 percent lift in Walmart sales versus a control. That type of hard data is what gets CFOs on board with bigger media budgets.
In the last two years, we have seen more brands demand incrementality proof from retail media networks. Amazon Marketing Cloud, Kroger’s measurement tools, and Instacart’s lift testing all move in that direction. Walmart and Vizio together can compete directly in that space if they build strong, transparent dashboards.
Strategic Impact On The Connected TV And Retail Media Markets
This acquisition also reshapes the broader competitive landscape. Connected TV ad spending in the US hit around 25 billion dollars in 2023 and is forecast by eMarketer to keep growing double digits through 2026. At the same time, retail media spending is projected to pass 100 billion dollars globally by mid decade.
By tying these two fast growth sectors together, walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business in a way that puts pressure on rival players:
Pressure On Traditional TV Networks
Legacy TV networks and cable providers already face cord cutting and rating declines. Now, not only streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ compete for ad dollars, but retailers too. Walmart can tell a brand, “Spend here and we will show your ads on large screens and prove how many of those viewers bought your goods in our stores.” That is a tougher value proposition for traditional TV sellers to match.
Response From Amazon, Target, And Other Retailers
Amazon already had a head start with Fire TV, Prime Video, and Freevee. It is no coincidence that Amazon’s ad business surpassed 47 billion dollars in 2023, much of it fueled by retail media plus CTV. Walmart’s move with Vizio is clearly a response to that dominance, but with its own strengths in grocery and discount retail.
Target, Kroger, and other retailers will likely deepen their own CTV partnerships, either by forming alliances with smart TV makers, buying minority stakes, or launching joint ad sales ventures. We would not be suprised to see more deals between retailers and OEMs like Roku, Samsung, LG, or TCL in the next 18 to 24 months as everyone tries to secure their slice of living room attention.
What This Means For Smaller And Mid Size Businesses
At first glance, the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business seems most relevant for global CPG giants and big box advertisers. But smaller ecommerce brands and regional retailers can also benefit, if they know how to plug into the new tools.
Opportunities For Direct To Consumer And Marketplace Sellers
Many independent brands sell through Walmart Marketplace or stock their products in physical stores while also running their own DTC sites. For those brands, Walmart Connect plus Vizio’s CTV can provide cost effective national or regional reach with measurable retail impact.
Practical ways to use this ecosystem might include:
- Running CTV campaigns that focus on markets where your Walmart distribution is strongest, to drive store visits and shelf velocity.
- Coordinating CTV flights with in store promotions, price drops, or end cap displays for higher impact.
- Testing creative that highlights both “available at Walmart” and DTC site benefits, then comparing conversion paths.
From a media buying point of view, we recommend smaller brands start with test budgets, structured A/B experiments, and tight geographic focus. CTV can burn through money quickly if targeting is sloppy or creative does not resonate. Having Walmart sales data to guide optimizations can lower that risk if used carefully.
Agency And Tech Partner Ecosystem
As Walmart deepens its advertising stack through Vizio, there will be more demand for partners that can manage creative, data feeds, and measurement. Agencies, analytics firms, and martech vendors will likely build dedicated Walmart practice groups, similar to the way many already have Amazon focused teams.
At Techoboll, we already see clients asking how to align their web, ecommerce, and media strategies with retail media environments. When a brand’s own site analytics, CRM data, and Walmart Connect performance are viewed together, decisions get sharper. The Vizio CTV layer adds one more surface where that integration matter, especially for full funnel strategy.
Key Risks And Challenges Of The Deal
While the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business carries big upside, it is not without risk. Looking at similar integrations from other large companies, we see several areas that need careful handling.
Regulatory And Privacy Considerations
Anytime a retailer combines purchase data with cross device viewing data, regulators watch closely. The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general have been increasingly active on privacy, dark patterns, and data sales. Vizio itself paid a settlement in 2017 over TV viewing data practices, so its history already draws attention.
Walmart will need crystal clear privacy disclosures, strong opt out controls, and secure handling of household data. Based on our read of recent enforcement actions, vague consent language or buried settings could trigger expensive penalties and brand damage. Brands that use Walmart Connect should also demand clear documentation of data handling to protect their own reputations.
Integration Complexity And Product Consistency
Merging two large organizations almost always introduces friction. Different tech stacks, cultural norms, roadmaps, and sales teams can lead to confusion for advertisers. If Walmart Connect and Vizio sales reps pitch overlapping products with different terms, brands will get frustrated.
To avoid that, Walmart will need to standardize naming for ad products, unify reporting dashboards, and train teams across both sides. If done well, the buying experience will feel seamless and predictable. If not, the promise behind walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business could be watered down by internal complexity.
Consumer Experience On Vizio TVs
There is also the risk of overloading Vizio users with ads or intrusive placements. Smart TV owners tolerate some advertising, especially on free channels, but they can be quick to switch brands if the interface feels spammy or slow. We have seen this with some streaming platforms that pushed too many ads or irrelevant sponsored rows, leading to user backlash in forums and reviews.
Walmart must balance monetization with user satisfaction. Better targeting, frequency caps, and creative standards will play a big role here. If Vizio viewers feel that the ads are relevant, not overwhelming, and sometimes helpful or shoppable, acceptance rises. If the experience feels cluttered, Vizio’s brand and market share could suffer.
How Techoboll Views The Move From A Digital Strategy Perspective
From our perspective as a digital agency focused on ecommerce and high performance web solutions, the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business lines up with a broader shift we have seen over the last few years. The old separation between “brand marketing,” “performance marketing,” and “retail trade spend” keeps breaking down.
Modern growth strategy treats every touchpoint like part of one system: search, site UX, marketplaces, retail media, CTV, social. Walmart’s move essentially knits together a huge chunk of that system inside its own walls. For brands, that means both opportunity and responsibility.
On the opportunity side, Walmart can be a one stop partner for shoppers who discover a product on a Vizio TV show, research it on Walmart.com, and pick it up curbside, all while the brand can see the full chain of influence. On the responsibility side, brands must ensure message consistency, privacy compliance, and creative quality across every step.
We have learned that brands who treat retail media and CTV as strategic levers tied to product availability, pricing, and site experience usually perform better than those who just “run ads.” For example, if a campaign on Vizio SmartCast drives sudden demand for a new SKU, but the brand’s Walmart product page is slow, poorly designed, or missing key content, conversion will leak away. That is why our team often pushes clients to upgrade product content, site tech, and analytics before ramping media investments.
Practical Steps Brands Should Take Now
While Walmart and Vizio continue to integrate their operations, brands do not need to wait to start preparing. There are concrete moves that make sense right now, regardless of your current media budget.
Audit Your Walmart Presence
First, review how your brand appears across Walmart.com and the Walmart app. Ask basic but crucial questions:
- Are product titles, images, videos, and descriptions clear and persuasive?
- Do ratings and reviews reflect current quality, or are there unresolved issues?
- Is inventory stable in the regions where you expect strong demand?
If walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business leads to more CTV driven traffic toward your brand, a weak digital shelf will waste that attention. Tighten the foundation before you pour more media on top.
Clarify Measurement Priorities
Next, decide what success actually means for your brand within this new ecosystem. For some, it may be pure sales volume. For others, it might be household penetration, repeat rate, or cross sell into new categories. When you know these priorities, you can configure Walmart Connect reporting, CTV targeting, and creative strategy around them.
We recommend setting up clear test plans when Vizio CTV products become widely accessible through Walmart Connect. Start with hypothesis driven experiments, such as “Households that see two 15 second CTV spots plus an onsite sponsored product ad will show higher basket size than those who only see onsite ads.” Then track outcomes rigorously.
Align CTV Creative With Commerce Journeys
Finally, rethink your CTV creative itself. If your ad runs on a Vizio SmartCast home screen or within a streaming show, and the viewer can easily shop at Walmart through mobile or PC, your storytelling should recognize that reality. Simple cues like “Shop now at Walmart” or QR codes that tie to Walmart product pages can bridge the gap between awareness and action.
In our work with ecommerce brands, we have seen that creative customized for each retailer and each device tends to out perform generic master assets. When walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business, that principle becomes even more relevant, because your TV ad is no longer just a branding tool; it is a trigger in a closed loop sales ecosystem.
The Road Ahead For Walmart, Vizio, And The Ad Industry
Looking across the signals in the last two years, the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business stands as one of the clearest examples of how commerce, media, and data are converging. If Walmart executes well, the company will not only grow ad revenue but also strengthen loyalty, drive traffic to stores, and deepen relationships with suppliers.
For advertisers, the coming years will likely bring more options to buy Walmart powered CTV inventory, richer analytics, and more integrated campaign structures. For consumers, there will be more ads on smart TVs, but ideally they will feel more relevant and connected to actual shopping needs, rather than random noise.
From a strategic point of view, brands who start learning this ecosystem early will gain a head start. Those who wait until every competitor is already running Walmart plus Vizio campaigns may find higher prices and more crowded attention. As the walmart completes $2.3B acquisition of Vizio to enhance advertising business continues to roll out in practice, staying close to the data, being honest about performance, and adapting quickly will matter more than ever.