Scott Peterson’s Post

Walmart's move to buy Vizio for over $2 billion seems like a smart play to boost its ad business. With Vizio's smart TVs, Walmart could get a ton of consumer data and ad space, setting up a showdown with Amazon. And considering Walmart's main bucks come from groceries, which aren't huge profit-makers, stepping up their ad game could really pay off. Plus, it's a smart way to finance faster shipping and other cool services. It's interesting to see how retail giants are diving deeper into tech to stay ahead. #Walmart #Vizio #SmartTV #AdvertisingBusiness #RetailInnovation #TechTrends

This deal is somewhere between high contrast and too much brightness. Walmart is going shopping and flipping the channel while they're at it. The behemoth retailer is in talks to buy smart TV maker Vizio for more than $2 billion. While it's a battle to win the cheap TV battle, the bigger prize is access to a wealth of customer data that Vizio collects on all of us. Bring on the tater tots! Walmart isn't playing couch potato with Vizio. Besides the customer data collected by Vizio’s smart TV platform, there's also the revenue stream created by serving up personalized ads and taking a cut of subscription fees. In numbers, that would give Walmart access to an active Vizio user base of nearly 18 million people. The deal would put Walmart in direct competition with Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV, which have been fighting over the remote. Interestingly enough, Walmart and Roku have a bit of history, which like a bad rom-com shows how frail these relationships can be. Back in 2022, Walmart provided personalized ads on connected TVs and teamed up with Roku to offer shoppable ads on TVs. Like a daytime soap, Walmart obviously now wants a bigger piece of the pie with Vizio in its sights. The potential acquisition also makes sense on another front - 70% of Vizio's TVs are sold at Walmart. By acquiring Vizio, Walmart could potentially control 22% of the U.S. TV market between its private-label Onn brand and Vizio. That's a lot of eyeballs. Why now? One word: monetization. Walmart is increasingly monetizing its reach and troves of shopper data to sell ads on its website and store assets such as digital diplays, connected TVs and radio. Like an afterschool special, adding Vizio TVs could give companies brands more screens to display their ads to the more than 130 million shoppers that visit Walmart's network of U.S. stores. Ultimately, Walmart is making further inroads into our consciousness with Vizio as a key piece of that strategy https://lnkd.in/gNMWAsn5 #walmart #vizio #advertising #television #smarttv #subscription #acquisition #retail #omnichannel

The WSJ reports that Walmart is discussing buying Vizio, valuing the company at $2 billion. Some are suggesting it would give Walmart a way to better compete with Roku and Amazon than its existing Onn house TV brand. I disagree since TV hardware is not a business anyone wants to be in due to the low margins. Devices are a trojan horse into the living room to make money from ads and content services, not the hardware. The WSJ says Walmart could leverage its ownership of Vizio to sell ads shown on TVs in stores, but that's not where the money is. Owning Vizio would allow Walmart to sell more ads to better compete with Amazon and make money from content services. https://lnkd.in/epuSWP5W - #vizio #roku #walmart #streamingmedia #CTV

Walmart is buying VIZIO for $2.3B This is not about Walmart selling more TVs. It’s all about data + advertising. It’s about Walmart now controlling ~25% of the US TV market, grabbing a ton of Vizio’s ACR data, keeping that data from others in the market, combining it with a trove of Walmart's retail data for a new, stronger walled garden in CTV & Commerce to compete with Amazon & Google. I bet they are eyeing other data assets in the market  - let's see. What do you think is their next move?

The news is a few days old but I have to admit I am not convinced by the rationale here for #WalMart to buy #Vizio. Yes, I know the argument is ‘let’s control the screen and pick up data’ angle and in theory it gives WalMart an opportunity to take a share of both CTV * and Retail Media advertising. However, so far when it comes to these types of strategic rationales, there has been a lot of promise but not much success. There is also the question mark of WalMart’s capabilities in the area. I suspect this will be a similar ‘sounds great, doesnt succeed’ move. As usual, this is not investment advice. #advertisingandmarketing

What Does The Walmart-Vizio Deal Mean For Retail Digital Signage? Both Not Much And Maybe A Lot (16:9): by Dave Haynes. Walmart is buying VIZIO for $2.3 billion to get quick access to some 18 million active accounts on its smart TVs, via a platform and TV operating system called SmartCast. That platform gives Walmart a way to reach consumers at scale on connected TVs, a medium that is rapidly overtaking more traditional […] #DOOH #digitalbillboards #digitalsignage

FYI: What Does The Walmart-Vizio Deal Mean For Retail Digital Signage? Both Not Much And Maybe A Lot (16:9): by Dave Haynes. Walmart is buying VIZIO for $2.3 billion to get quick access to some 18 million active accounts on its smart TVs, via a platform and TV operating system called SmartCast. That platform gives Walmart a way to reach consumers at scale on connected TVs, a medium that is rapidly overtaking more traditional […] #DOOH #digitalbillboards #digitalsignage

What Does The Walmart-Vizio Deal Mean For Retail Digital Signage? Both Not Much And Maybe A Lot (16:9): by Dave Haynes. Walmart is buying VIZIO for $2.3 billion to get quick access to some 18 million active accounts on its smart TVs, via a platform and TV operating system called SmartCast. That platform gives Walmart a way to reach consumers at scale on connected TVs, a medium that is rapidly overtaking more traditional […] #DOOH #digitalbillboards #digitalsignage

I love to talk about big TVs, and how we get accustomed to what sits in our living room for 5 years or more. Suddenly what seemed to be a huge TV looks merely adequate, thus fueling the upgrade cycle. Circana retail sales data shows the average price of TVs 97" and larger is now down below $3000! Still stunning to see how affordable #XXLTV sizes near 100 inches in size have gotten! https://lnkd.in/gkzX-n83

See TV? When I was much younger, last December, I predicted that #MergersandAcquisitions mania would be a huge gravitational force in the Media Universe this year. https://lnkd.in/euyx4c9U Long ago, at that *same link*, I also predicted that #RetailMedia would be the fastest growing lane in #advertising. I specifically pointed to retail media as a big driver of revenue on the #connectedTV - billions in *new ad revenue* streaming across CTVs in the next few years (Source: The Trade Desk). Today's news merged these predictions into one massive, game-changing move: "WALMART HAS AGREED TO BUY VIZIO, the companies announced, as the largest U.S. retailer grows its high-profit *ad business.* Walmart and its Sam's Club warehouse chain have long been major sellers of Vizio devices. But in buying the company, #Walmart touted the potential to boost its *ad business* through Vizio’s Operating System, which allows users to stream free ad-supported content on their TVs." https://lnkd.in/gk7nMW9r It's February, and a good share of my Top 10 Predictions for 2024 have actualized. At this pace, I MIGHT be done the list by July 4.