Walmart is rumored to be looking to acquire smart television company Vizio (the potential deal is said to be around $2billion), so that they can enhance their own line of Walmart-branded television sets. Lest you think that this is simply an ego move on Walmart’s part, let us disabuse you of that notion right now: smart TVs are an incredibly rich source of consumer data – your data – just ripe for the mining.
Consumers often don’t think about exactly what data they are offering up in exchange for convenience, and perhaps nowhere is that more true than with smart televisions. After all, in addition to the regular things you may be offering up (location, name, email address, telephone number, etc.) you are giving the holder of the keys to your smart television data an up close and personal look at your viewing habits. And when they know your viewing habits (what you watch, when you watch it, what recommendations you take, etc.) they can either use that to entice advertisers to advertise directly to you (or at least your demographic, depending on how sophisticated is their system for exploiting your data). Or, if they’re lazy, they can just sell that to someone else to exploit.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “Walmart is already testing selling ads through connected TVs. A potential Vizio purchase could make the prospect easier and more appealing to potential advertisers. For Walmart the logic of a potential deal is about growing advertising revenue, not selling more low-price TVs.”
Driving this is Walmart’s newish U.S. ad business unit, called ‘Connect’. According to Reuters, “Since launching in 2021, Walmart’s U.S. ad business, called Connect, has been growing at a double-digit clip, generating sales of about $3 billion last year, according to a report, opens new tab from Insider Intelligence. Walmart’s finance chief singled out Walmart Connect as one of its fast-growing, high-margin businesses that would change the composition of Walmart’s profit and loss statement over the next five years.”
In fact, says industry insider publication Progressive Grocer, “Walmart continually enhances its efforts in the retail media and streaming space as it competes with other retail behemoths like Amazon. In late 2023, the Sam’s Club division announced that the Sam’s Club Member Access Program is adding full-funnel advertising onsite, in-app and offsite, with advertisers able to layer connected TV ads, sponsored video and interactive videos. Meanwhile, the Walmart Connect retail media program continues to deploy test-and-learn partnerships via the Walmart Connect partner lab, working with Roku, TalkShopLive, TikTok and NBCUniversal.”
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So, make no mistake, mining your data is Big Business.
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