When Walmart spent $2.3 billion to acquire VIZIO last year, it wasn’t just buying a TV brand. It was securing a direct line into living rooms across America.
Now it’s making the move official. VIZIO is being folded into Walmart’s private-label lineup and will be sold exclusively at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. That cuts out retailers like Amazon and Target and positions Walmart to push VIZIO the same way it does with its 90 other in-house brands. More than 20 of those already top $1 billion in annual sales.
This is a classic Walmart play. Own the supply chain, slash prices, drive volume. But the bigger prize is on the screen, not behind it.
By owning VIZIO’s OS and hardware stack, Walmart gets full control of a growing connected TV footprint. There are 23 million connected TVs across 19 million accounts in the U.S., all of which become potential real estate for its expanding advertising business. That means sponsored content, screensaver ads, and new shoppable TV integrations are all on the table.
The endgame here looks a lot like what Roku and Amazon have already built — a direct-to-consumer advertising platform wrapped in a hardware product. Roku and Amazon just partnered to reach over 80% of CTV households. Walmart clearly wants a seat at that table.
Even though Walmart’s ad business currently contributes less than 1% of its $680 billion in revenue, it’s one of the fastest-growing segments. Smart TV ownership gives Walmart a rare strategic asset to drive that growth.
This isn’t just about selling more TVs. It’s about owning the screen that people watch them on and monetizing every second of it.
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