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According to The Wall Street Journal, Walmart wants to acquire TV maker Vizio to battle Roku and Amazon Fire TV. The acquisition would allow Walmart to boost its advertising business and directly pitch its products to potential customers.
The deal is reportedly worth $2 billion. Vizio and Walmart have been close partners for many years. Vizio is currently Walmart’s largest customer and the best-selling TV brand in Walmart stores. Neither Walmart nor Vizio have commented about the deal yet. Of course, in 2022, Comcast was also in talks to acquire Vizio, but it never happened.
Affordable TV maker Vizio is soon to be sold to Walmart for $2 billion
Walmart now sells its streaming devices and affordable Android TVs under the Onn brand. However, by acquiring Vizio, the retailer can better compete with Amazon and Roku in the affordable TV market. Additionally, it can access the data collected by Vizio from millions of customers. Walmart can also tap into the personalized ads business.
Another perk of acquiring Vizio for Walmart could be the company’s streaming service, WatchFree+. The WatchFree+ service comes preinstalled on Vizio TVs and doesn’t require additional devices, fees, or subscriptions.
Walmart has been pursuing the idea of launching a streaming service for almost two years. The company reportedly talked about the deal with major distribution brands like Paramount, Disney, and Comcast. The retailer can now achieve its dream by acquiring Vizio and its streaming service, WatchFree+. The service has over 260 free channels. However, it might not be free anymore after Walmart’s acquisition.
Last year Walmart partnered up with Innovid
Last year, Walmart announced a partnership with advertising company Innovid to show personalized ads on connected TVs (CTV). Innovid’s Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) helps Walmart to create and share more engaging and interactive ads. In 2022, Walmart also partnered with Roku to show shoppable ads on TVs.
The competition in the affordable TV market is heating up with streaming services like Roku and Amazon launching their own lineup of smart TVs. By owning the TV lineup, the streaming services could have full control over the content and ads they show to the customers and gather as much data as possible.