Walmart is Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Smart TV Maker Vizio

Walmart could be exploring an acquisition of smart TV manufacturer Vizio for 2 billion dollars, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. Vizio TVs are already the best-selling smart TVs at Walmart stores, and the US retailer is reportedly interested in the opportunity to show ads to more eyeballs.

As you may know, Walmart already has its own Onn brand of smart TVs that run either Roku OS or Google TV. Vizio created its own SmartCast operating system for its cheap smart TVs, and in recent years, the company started selling ads that show up when users turn on their TVs or use some free streaming services.

“Walmart is already testing selling ads through connected TVs. A potential Vizio purchase could make the prospect easier and more appealing to potential advertisers,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “For Walmart the logic of a potential deal is about growing advertising revenue, not selling more low-price TVs,” the report continued.

In recent years, smart TVs have become a great source of advertising data. This is also why other companies such as Amazon and Roku have been aggressively expanding their smart TV offerings. Roku launched its first Roku-branded smart TVs last year, with new premium models coming this spring.

Amazon, which also makes its own Fire TV smart TVs, wants to grow its advertising revenue. Last year, the company started showing fullscreen video ads on startup to Fire TV users. Amazon is also reportedly developing its own OS for Fire TVs and other smart home devices to replace the Android-based Fire OS. Whether that will lead to even more ads remains to be seen.