All those Vizio TVs lining the aisles inside Walmarts around the world will now be owned by Walmart itself. Walmart bought the TV maker on Tuesday for a total of $2.3 billion. At first, you might think that Walmart wants to use the TV brand as its main TV for in-store and online shoppers, but according to the retail giant, it is to place its own ads on Vizio smart TVs.
Walmart bought TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion. This includes Vizio’s SmartCast Operating System, which Walmart said in a release it will enable marketing to “innovate and differentiate ways for advertisers to meaningfully connect with customers at scale.” The giant said it will use Walmart Connect to amplify advertisers’ messages through Vizio TVs.
Vizio’s SmartCast enabled viewers to stream alternative content through ad-supported services like WatchFree+. Now, Walmart will have access to the 19 million active accounts that have been added to Vizio’s services. The big box retailer said it will “continue to operate separately for the foreseeable future” while Vizio CEO William Wang continues as CEO. However, Vizio is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart, requiring all information to be shared between the two parties.
You may recall the Federal Trade Commission settled with Vizio for nearly $2.2 million after a ProPublica report showed the company collected and sold user data to advertisers without consent. Vizio, and every other smart TV maker, has it large data collection networks collect information about what you watch, when you watch it, which ads you sit on, and much more.
Despite its public revival, Vizio continued as a major advertising business with its ad-based offerings. The Walmart Connect platform connects advertisers with its users and brands. These two services combined will balloon the number of data points I can sell to advertisers.
Vizio is one of the most popular TV brands for one main reason: they are very good quality for their cheap price. We enjoyed their LCD TVs and soundbars, and their Quantum QLED range was on par with TCL’s other budget TV brands. Vizio recently released the MicMe sound bar, intended to provide users with several free karaoke services that also rely on advertisements.
Unlike cheap TV products that rely on existing TV OSes like Google TV or Amazon Fire TV, Vizio also uses its SmartCast interface to allow you to access your TV apps or attached devices. WatchFree+ is a big part of that, so it’s one of the first advanced apps to be featured prominently TV shows in its UI.
Walmart’s biggest competitor, Amazon, has also moved into TV advertising. Amazon has had its own TVs since 2021, and last month, it he started selling its mini-LED TVs under the new “Omni” brand. These, of course, use Amazon’s Fire TV in its OS by default. Amazon. Last year, Amazon said it could reach 155 million viewers a month across its ad platforms, even if its website or Main Video. Director of Marketing for Fire TV, Charlotte Maines, talked about the amazing ad capabilities on Fire TV with BroadcastingTV. This will include “relevant” display ads that are tailored to you based on their search or other viewing data.
Walmart seems to think it needs to compete in the smart TV category, especially if it doesn’t have to suffer through expensive streaming services. We don’t know if this acquisition will force more ads on Vizio TVs. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if enshitification rules hold on to this latest multi-billion dollar purchase.
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