Walmart wants to use Vizio’s SmartCast OS to grow its advertising business.
Vizio, a manufacturer of smart televisions, will be acquired by Walmart for a price of $2.3 billion, according to the retail giant stated in its most recent earnings report. Despite the fact that Walmart has been one of the most prominent retailers of Vizio televisions for a considerable amount of time, the company claims that the acquisition “enables a profitable advertising business that is rapidly scaling” through the use of the SmartCast operating system. Regulatory permission is still required before the deal can be finalised.
The majority of the televisions that Vizio sells are integrated with its SmartCast operating system, which allows for the viewing of content that is funded by advertisements. Recently, the company updated its product selection by introducing a user interface that is more user-friendly, as well as a faster startup time and faster app switching.
Walmart, on the other hand, prominently displays the brand on its shelves (along with TCL), as anyone who has been to Walmart in the recent past has surely noticed. Despite the fact that the company already possesses its very own TV house brand, ONN, the sets, which are typically sold for less than $500, are considered to be far more affordable.
However, the most essential thing is that the corporations intend to integrate their individual advertising operations. Vizio would expand Walmart’s access to crucial customer information such as viewership data, despite the fact that Walmart currently has an advertising company worth $2.7 billion. Additionally, it would effectively provide Walmart with a greater number of eyes for its advertisements. For instance, businesses who sell their products at Walmart might also run advertisements on Vizio TVs, and the retailer would be able to monitor all of these advertisements.
“We believe the combination of these two businesses would be impactful as we redefine the intersection of retail and entertainment,” said Walmart’s vice president of operations Seth Dallaire. “Our technology will help bring a scaled, connected TV advertising platform to Walmart Connect,” said William Wang, CEO of Vizio. “That is something that we are very excited about.”
According to a report that was published in The Wall Street Journal the previous week, the acquisition may potentially serve as a competitor to Amazon’s in-house Fire TV business, offering both television sales and advertising opportunities. The advertising business of Amazon is one of the largest in the United States, behind only that of Alphabet and Meta. Smart TVs let Amazon to collect personalised consumer data for the purpose of targeted advertising.