Thursday, February 22, 2024

Walmart Buys Vizio to Compete with Roku, Other Ad Giants

The announced acquisition of TV manufacturer Vizio by Walmart will marry Walmart's streaming content with a key appliance supplier, boosting opportunities to create advertising revenue. 


The acquisition would give Walmart a stronger foothold in the smart TV market through Vizio's SmartCast platform, boosting Walmart's position in the battle against other major retailers, ranging from Amazon to Target and Costco. 


But the deal also makes Walmart a bigger player in the advertising market, positioning the firm to compete to some extent with Amazon, Google and Meta for digital ad spending. 

By some estimates, Amazon controlled 75 percent of the $45.15 billion U.S. retail media ad market in 2023. Of course, the total U.S. digital ad market is larger. 


U.S. Digital Advertising Estimates, in Billion USD


2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

Statista

90.08

114.70

139.00

168.70

224.20

243.90

271.20

298.40

325.00

350.90

376.50

402.00

Cowen and Company





183.40

221.00







GroupM

73.39

90.99

107.10

121.90

157.70

189.10

205.70

229.80

243.30

266.30



Magna




136.00

179.00








PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

88.30

107.50

124.60

139.80

189.30








Winterberry Group


127.70

152.90

176.70

240.40









Other estimates of retailer advertising suggest a smaller market. The IAB, for example, estimates current retailer revenues at lower levels. But most estimates suggest Walmart shows the fastest growth in the category.


In 2023, for example, Walmart digital ad revenues grew 42 percent. Amazon almost certainly posted the greatest amount of net new ad revenues in 2023 at $5.5 billion.


Year

Estimated Annual U.S. Retailer Advertising Revenue (USD Billion)

Growth Rate (%)

2023

10.0

N/A

2024

11.5

15%

2025

13.3

15.6%

2026

15.4

16%

2027

17.8

15.6%

2028

20.4

14.6%

2029

23.3

14.2%

2030

26.5

13.8%


But retail leads digital advertising, accounting for perhaps 28 percent of all such advertising in 2023, followed by consumer packaged goods at about 15 percent of total and financial services at about 11 percent of total.  


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