Ad Tech Explained’s Post

Some interesting tidbits in, and above and beyond, this coverage of the Walmart acquisition of VIZIO: 1. Vizio's business actually shows a declining unit sales of TVs, but still shows strong revenue growth - owing to its subscription, advertising and data revenues 2. Prior studies and posts show that advertiser retail media spend is being funded out of a small chunk of trade spend or discrete incremental retail media budgets. Brand spends therefore represent a net new 'bucket' for many retail media players to go after (potentially following in the footsteps of Amazon and Prime) 3. The next evolution of brand+retail (or full funnel) measurement would be an exciting direction flowing out from this 4. That said, measurement and insights is nothing without learning and action, and potentially should also flow through to more end-to-end budget planning and allocations, media planning and buying; but also the coming together (operating model-wise) of brand management, marketing and trade/sales/retail/account management/e-commerce teams that (in many CPGs and adjacent organisations) have existed separately An exciting space to watch as it continues to emerge and evolve. https://lnkd.in/e-GejxNd

What an interesting story. Headline is Walmart buys Vizio. But scratch the surface. "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." Amazon and Walmart are similar here. Amazon's retail sales are and always have been massive. But where they print money in the form of profit is their AWS business. The streaming ads business is where Walmart sees alpha. Data is the new oil indeed. https://lnkd.in/gwb6fz5k

Walmart buying Vizio is about the continuing quest to establish an ecosystem. They have been trying to build it to benefit from network effects and spent untold billions to manifest it. It makes sense, it is hard and they have struggled to materialize it: - Walmart Connect advertising grew at 28% ($3.4B FY) vs - Amazon growth of 27% (49.9B FY). Prior to this Walmart bought VUDU in 2010 and sold it in 2020. ** VUDU had 14MM subs when they sold it, Vizio has just over 18MM subs today. The opportunity is huge. By essentially converting the Amazon model from online and into B&M/omnichannel it gives them access to much bigger group of engaged buyers and companies wanting to get their attention. Just looking at the transaction it is about $128/sub. I find it interesting that Roku right now would be about $120/sub, I would have thought Roku would have provided a ton of incremental capabilities. I suspect this is one of several more deals we will see around this objective.

Walmart drops a bombshell with its quarterly results, and the numbers are off the charts! 🚀 Imagine this: Walmart's stock price hits a record high of $180 per share, catapulting the company's market value to a jaw-dropping $475 billion. 😱 With fourth-quarter sales reaching $173.4 billion and annual sales totaling a mind-blowing $648.125 billion, the retail giant is showing a solid 6% growth. 💼💰 And here's the real kicker: Walmart is making moves that could reshape the advertising landscape as we know it. By shelling out $2.3 billion to acquire TV manufacturer Vizio, Walmart is gearing up to transform its stores into advertising powerhouses. Picture this: screens plastered across Walmart outlets, broadcasting brand ads to over 500 million monthly shoppers. It's a bold move that could revolutionize the concept of in-store advertising. 📺💥 In a world where traditional advertising mediums are losing steam, Walmart's innovative approach offers a fresh and lucrative alternative. Keep your eyes open – the retail game is about to get a major shake-up! 👀 #Walmart #RetailRevolution #Innovation #AdvertisingPowerhouse

Don't count Walmart out they are growing and adapting. I may even want to call them a tech company in 2025. They have adapted nicely in the last 5 years, and Gen Z loves them! America's largest retailer clearly sees Vizio as a big play for data and advertising power. "[Advertising] is a fast-growing, high-margin part of our business," Walmart CFO John David Rainey told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday. "And what this deal with Vizio does — it’s very complementary to what we were doing organically. It allows us to use their operating system ... to provide a new channel to provide better service to our customers and connect them with data. #Walmart #advertising #digitalamarketing #digitaladvertising #data

Hmm, quite big news? This will also have indirect implications on the AU market imo. The potential to disrupt and reshape the future of retail, blurring the lines between entertainment and commerce is huge. Vizio's technology with its existing retail infrastructure creates a unique proposition, combining both entertainment and commerce. It's going to set new standards and expectations for digital media experiences across CTV. Increased demand for similar functions will be seen/wanted down here. Now I wonder, what the competitive response will be from the likes of Amazon? CTV just continues to grow grow grow, and the blending of entertainment and e-commerce could serve as a benchmark for companies down here. Aussie companies may collaborate with or be influenced by Walmart's ecosystem partners? We shall see.

It doesn't seem to be that quiet in my LinkedIn feed, but here's the latest Amazon Ads business comparison - versus Walmart, YouTube & Snap Inc. - up to and including Q4 2023. Walmart execs will be hoping that the newly-announced $2.3 billion acquisition of smart TV maker VIZIO will accelerate its ad offering. The retailer sees the deal as an opportunity to offer its customers “innovative television and in-home entertainment and media experiences”, while combining with its media arm, Walmart Connect, to help partner brands “realize greater impact” from their advertising spend. With all-time-high e-commerce sales, plans to expand its drone delivery service, and continued efforts to boost its burgeoning advertising business, Walmart is beginning to look a little more like Amazon with each passing day. However, the brick-and-mortar behemoth still has some way to go on all 3 fronts: its global ad business, for example, was up some 28% to $3.4 billion last year, but remained just a fraction of its e-com competitor, which hauled in a staggering $14.7 billion in Q4 alone. Although Walmart only recognized $3.4 billion in advertising revenue last year (less than 1% of total sales), ads are an exciting proposition because the margins in the division are a completely different ballgame than in its legacy retail business. In fact, Walmart's CFO has predicted that the company’s future profitability might rely more on ads and services than its enormous retail empire. #retailmedia #retail #media #ecommerce #commerce #marketplace #amazon #snapchat #snap #walmart #youtube #shoppermarketing #trademarketing #FMCG #CPG #PPC #digitaladvertising VIZIO Ads Google Source: Chartr

The article from Yahoo Finance discusses Walmart’s latest strategic move in the digital advertising space, marked by its $2.3 billion acquisition of smart TV maker Vizio. This move is part of Walmart’s broader efforts to compete with Amazon and other retailers in digital advertising. Walmart aims to increase its ad revenue significantly, leveraging Vizio’s technology to enhance in-home advertising and e-commerce. The article also highlights the general trend among retailers like Instacart, Target, and Amazon, who are expanding their digital ad sales. Walmart’s strategy represents a shift towards integrating technology with retail, emphasizing the importance of digital advertising in retail and e-commerce sectors. This is absolutely wild. Walmart is now completely vertically integrated into the ad experience for a consumer. They own a part of the OTT mechanism for content delivery, can obtain viewership numbers at a very granular level, can utilize cross screen and cross device data and understand viewership habits that tie back to purchase data. We’re creeping towards this holy grail of connecting front end user behavior directly to a conversion without any middle-man data. #ott #adtech #digitaladvertising #digitalmarketing https://lnkd.in/e7g8qbZk

As retail media evolves, ad placements off-site and in-store will help grocery advertisers reach shoppers in new and more engaging ways, but consumers may not be in a spending mood as credit card balances grow and savings accounts shrink. If Amazon can get grocery right, it may be able to fight off losing share to Walmart. But if the Kroger-Albertsons merger goes through, it could change everything. I think the #1 issue is consumer spending. Some grocery items are still very high even though inflation seems to be going down. #inflation #groceryshopping #Amazon #Walmart #Kroger #Albertsons #Target #HyVee