Walmart is considering a purchase of Vizio’s TV business for $2 billion, the The Wall Street Journal reports. The deal could better position the retailer to compete with lower-cost smart TVs from Roku and Amazon, give it access to customer data collected by Vizio’s smart TVs and bring added revenue from personalized ads and subscription fees.
The move comes after Roku launched a line of smart TVs last year and Amazon is launching more Fire TVs and placing more ads on its TVs. Walmart already tapped an advertising company last year to put more personalized ads on connected TVs and worked with Roku in 2022 to place shoppable ads.
Walmart could also sell ads on in-store Vizio TVs if the purchase goes through, and it is already doing so with other TV brands and in self-checkout.
