Ashye Marcus’ Post

Walmart plans to acquire TV maker VIZIO for $2.3 billion—in a deal that has little to do with the business of selling TVs. bit.ly/42P7SJM Walmart’s real interest in the electronics company is its operating system and advertising business, and how it will let Walmart give brands more ways to advertise to consumers, and more data about their interests. If you own a Vizio TV, your eyeballs and viewing habits are what Walmart and their biggest advertisers want. Walmart needs extra cash to continue to invest in retail capabilities like delivery and automation to compete with, or beat, rivals like Amazon.

get a load of that money - 2.3 BILLION in CASH #money #business "Walmart said on Feb. 20 it has agreed to acquire smart-TV maker VIZIO for $2.3 billion in cash. The $484 billion retailer plans to plug Vizio hardware and its operating system into its growing advertising business to better target shoppers." Thank you Reuters for citing Parks Associates #research "The deal is also a flyer on Vizio becoming a main artery to distribute content. As streaming services bundle together, monopolizing the delivery of shows – whether it’s the TV unit or the wifi - becomes more important, too. Vizio, with over 10% of television sales market share, is the third largest, according, opens new tab  to Parks Associates. The two largest companies, Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab  and LG (003550.KS), opens new tab , would be off the table for Walmart to buy." https://lnkd.in/g_gQgZqh

So Walmart buys Vizio for $2.3B, providing the big box retailer with access to the lucrative CTV space and first party data from its millions of users (accelerated by their relative strong marketshare in the streaming OS battle of which Roku is leading but Samsung, Amazon and Alphabet are strong rivals). What should be interesting is when Walmart connects its OS ad serving stack to its retail media network, Walmart Connect, which already reaches 140M people in the US across thousands of stores. Not only should they sell more stuff, but combining what people watch directly with what people buy at this massive scale makes Walmart the purveyor of some of the most valuable ad space in all of media land. How's that for a door-buster?

I think the purchase of Vizio by Walmart is very smart, and not (just) because it's a great TV. Amazon spent years building Alexa devices and Amazon software into TVs and devices. Amazon's share of global digital ad spend is estimated at 10%, or $49B. One reason for this advantage is that Amazon can tell advertisers which ads generated purchases, a distinct advantage over the Google's and Facebook's of the world. Expect Walmart to start using this distribution channel to monetize content via their Retail Media Network. But it's not just new revenue that matters. This revenue is at 70%+ margins in a world where other margins are single-digit. And of course, expect Walmart to use that to control costs for products. I expect the rate of M&A and partnerships among other retailers to pick up this year. Next target? Roku.

Prime vs Vizio: how Retail Media is building up so fast and will take over the investment of CPG companies over Linear TV faster than expected. #changeisgood #futureisnow #vizio #prime #amazon #walmart #opportunities

So the rumours were true! Walmart has agreed to buy VIZIO to accelerate the growth of its media business, Walmart Connect, and better compete with Amazon in the ecommerce world. Check out my colleague Michael Goodman thoughts on the acquisition and its implications for the connected tv market. #connectedtv #advertising #ecommerce

What’s old is new again. I remember the earliest meetings of retailers talking about their most basic retail media networks. Their e-commerce operations were at its infancy, good supply chain yet lacking UI/UX and features we take for granted today. Media networks were mostly in store monitors that reach X hundred million a week to run spots. It was just another way to secure co-marketing dollars. As they have done for 50+ years, they began building brick by brick (both organic and M&A) an equivalent digital infrastructure to match their world class physical operations. This acquisition is yet another spoke on the CTV wheel to enhance personalized, contextual advertising to vendors. Very smart. #ctv #smarttv #digital #retail

Big news - Walmart agrees to acquire VIZIO - for $2.3B, giving its Walmart Connect business a key data asset in TV data and a streaming footprint. This further fuels the ads focus for Walmart, and enables its retail media to go beyond its brick & mortar & website presence into tv streaming. Suddenly, Walmart can compete with the likes of Amazon Prime Video w Ads, with ad-supported streaming TV. And more than ever, the need for independent 3rd-party TV measurement is critical. #retailmedia #retailmediameasurement #amazonads #amazonprime #streamingtv Jessie Mazur James Hunt Rochak Vyas

proof of the power of the platform - alliteration at it's finest

Walmart agreed to acquire smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion, in a deal aimed to boost the retail giant's ad business. Why it matters: The agreement is a big bet on streaming revenue and customer data, and will make Walmart a major player in connected TV advertising, putting it in competition with Roku, Amazon and YouTube. Between the lines: The relationships between streaming media companies and retailers are growing closer as both sectors find themselves increasingly dependent on access to each other's ad networks and consumer data. First-party data on customers' shopping habits is becoming more valuable to media networks amid increased competition in advertising. Driving the news: Walmart has agreed to pay $11.50 per share in cash, the company announced on Tuesday as part of its fourth quarter earnings report. The 21% premium comes after investors moved the stock higher last week when news of the deal leaked. Vizio's stock traded in the $7 range late last month. Of note: Advertising is a higher-margin business for Walmart than grocery sales, which is why executives have said the company will soon make more profit from selling ad space across its digital and retail channels than its brick-and-mortar sales.