Walmart just bought Tv Maker Viziofor $ 2.3 billion . Now , I would n’t be surprised if you just scrolled decently past that particular headline when the news send away on February 20 . I am not here to endeavor to convert you that you should care .
But I do think that you ’re snuff it to want to know what ’s about to happen to your fresh TV , no matter what stain it is .
The ripple effect
OK , so Walmart bought Vizio . Big heap .
Well , yeah , actually , it is literally a big deal . One Charles Frederick Worth more than $ 2 billion . That alone tells us something .
And while I sympathize some family line who are really into TVs — myself let in — may be curious about what that means for Vizio goggle box in the future , I do n’t guess that ’s most as interesting as what Walmart could do through Vizio TVs . And perhaps more crucial is what the ripple effect will probably be across every fresh TV platform .
It does n’t weigh whether you own a Vizio video , Roku TV , Google TV , Fire TV , Samsung TV , or LG television . What Walmart is about to do could have a wakeless gist on your boob tube - watching experience at home .
And I ’m about to make that very tangible for you .
Oh , and if you own an Apple TV ( which is a peripheral and not really a TV … ) , you may be safe — for now . But we ’ll get back to that .
So , we ’re going to sound off this off by doing what one should always do when a market - shifting upshot pass off . Let ’s follow the money !
Vizio has a storeyed chronicle . It grew pretty quick . In 2006 , it brought in about $ 700 million and nearly triple that in just one yr to an estimated $ 2 billion in revenue . In 2014 and 2015 , Vizio then pulled off a couple of vainglorious accomplishment that help make its SmartCast impertinent TV platform what it is today . That ’s going to be important in a minute .
In 2015 , the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) brought charges against Vizio , claiming it was pick up non - personal data on its television set owner and sell it to advertizer , all without ever reveal that to its client .
Vizio in 2017 had to edit all that information andpay a $ 2.2 million fine . But consumer apparently were n’t too upset about it , because Vizio sustain on trade TVs . Lotsof TVs .
In 2015 , a now - defunct Formosan brand calledLeEco almost bought Viziofor $ 2 billion dollars . China block that , so it did n’t happen . But Vizio continued to sell TV . That ’s lots of TVs going into people ’s homes .
It ’s estimated that Vizio has some 18 million active users of its smart television set platform .
In fact , correctly upthrough 2020 , Vizio was the No . 2 - sellingTV brand in the U.S. Since then , Vizio fall down to the number 4 or 5 expansion slot , bet on which account you reference .
Why does this matter ? It tell us that Vizio ’s condition as a TV brand has fall quite a bit in the last three years . Now , one could understandably mean that meant that Vizio needed help — and maybe it did . But I do n’t think Walmart showed up to help Vizio . I think what ’s happen here is that Vizio is going to help Walmart . In fact , its press liberation announcing the acquisition pretty much made that unmortgaged .
While Vizio ’s sales may have skid over the past few years , it still put a monumental phone number of TVs into abode across the U.S. over the past X . And because kinsfolk still do n’t supervene upon their television all that often , Vizio has some 18.5 million active users of its fresh TV political program , according to the company’sfourth - quarter earnings report . And Vizio has lot of data on those multitude . perhaps you ’re one of them .
So when Walmart bought Vizio , it bought over 18 million advertizing screens in U.S. homes that it could control . And in doing so , Walmart became one of the top 20 ad sellers in the humans outside of China . That ’s … vast . No wonder this deal went through for $ 2.3 billion .
New retail opportunities
The notion that Walmart bought Vizio not because it desire to make TVs , but because it wanted to buy advertising screen already in some 18 million homes ( and it ’s almost sure that number is run to turn exponentially , because Walmart moves a lot of product ) is not an original take . It ’s actually not even that hard to come to this conclusion .
But have me make this a whole portion more actual for you in good order now .
rent ’s take a break from Vizio and Walmart . Turn on a goggle box and see what pass off when you go to watch a show onAmazon Prime Video .
When I try this earlier , I got an ad for Turbo Tax , which is appropriate because it ’s revenue enhancement time , And I also obtain an ad for … a Blink camera . Guess who owns Blink cameras ? Amazon .
Amazon is read me an advertising for a mathematical product it not only sells , but also makes . Talk about self - serve .
I also got an ad for stag on Amazon . But not just shopping on Amazon — rat for a Hyundai on Amazon . That ’s a two - for - one ad in good order there !
After 18 years of Amazon serving up video content with no ads at all , the retail giant star , which is n’t get trouble selling merchandise , decided to twist on ads to serve convert me to buy more Cartesian product on Amazon , as well as any other products its advertisers might need me to corrupt . Or , I can pony up$3 to pass over the ads and get HDR and Dolby Vizion HDR back . But that ’s a rant for another day .
Anyway , Amazon Prime Video is now selling me retail products . And it ’s already happening on Fire goggle box machine as well . You do n’t even have to be watching a show to see an ad any longer .
Now , let ’s get out of the Amazon app and into the Google TV platform . I may have to deal with ads in these streaming servicing , but at least my precious Google TV platform is mostly advertising - free , right ? And the ad we do see are for content I might want to watch . They are n’t trying to sell me retail products , right ?
Retail advertising , guys . It ’s about to explode .
Wrong . Just the other day , when I turned on aSony QD - OLED TV running Google TV , the first thing I saw was an advert for aKia EV6 . It was made to look like a movie or TV show I could follow . I almost clicked on it by accident , but I did n’t even need to because Google TV ran a full - motion preview of it , so I view the ad anyway .
Retail advertising , family . It ’s about to explode even more than it already has .
Amazon jazz what I like to grass for and buy . Google knows what I like to shop for . Both of them are now serving me ads that are targeted to my preferences . And what do we know about advertising ? It works . It always works .
So … how do you suppose Walmart would care to increase the number of retail products it sells ? How do you suppose Walmart would like to grow even giving than the colossus it already is ?
Walmart product ads on Vizio TVs . It ’s come . And it probably wo n’t even take that foresightful for it to begin .
Pretty before long , Vizio idiot box owners are go to turn on their TVs to bingeTrue Detective : Night Country . And before they can even pilot to the Max app , they ’ll be face by an advertising for a baby monitor because someone in the house bought diapers the sidereal day before .
What’s next for Vizio TVs
I ’ll get back to the advertising nightmare shortly . Let ’s mark that madness aside for a moment and switch gears to talk about Vizio ’s TVs themselves . What ’s going on there ? Will the TVs go down in quality ? Up in quality ? Stay the same ?
In short , I do n’t experience . More importantly ? I do n’t think Walmart or Vizio have sex yet , either .
There may be some tentative design right now . In these buyouts , it ’s not uncommon for the buyer to tell the fellowship ’s employees that got bought that they are “ committed to save what has made Vizio such a powerful brand , blah , blah , blah , lip armed service , blah . ”
But in the end , I think what come about to the Vizio hardware is TBD . One reason I do n’t find extremely affirmative about things is that there was zero honorable mention of Vizio ’s ironware in the pressure release that Walmart air out . The acquittance was mostly revolve about around SmartCast , which Vizio maintain is the platform that supports theall - new saucy TV platform squall Vizio Home Screen .
Anyway , I do n’t forebode Vizio put out another P - Series Quantum X TV ever again . I guess Vizio is a better name for a TV than “ onn ” with two N ’s — that ’s Walmart ’s in - house mark — and that kind of name shows how much Walmart cares about the TV ’s carrying out .
OK, but what about everyone else?
So , we ’ve already covered that it ’s not just the streaming Service running retail advertizing — it ’s on platforms now as well . Amazon does it , Google does it . Walmart can now do it . What about Roku , Samsung , and LG ?
We will be get ads on our tv set , even before we start keep an eye on something .
face , this was already happening . It ’s just that Walmart is a marketplace mover . When Walmart does something , everyone else react . So now , not only will we be dealing with ads on cyclosis armed service — unless we give a premium to get rid of them — but we will also be getting ads on our TVs , even before we start watching something .
Welcome to the new era of streaming TV . It ’s now formally worse than cable television service . But that ’s only until cable’s length box start doing the same matter because , as we bang , cable operator are already struggling , and they fuck to make that money , too .
And let ’s not forget that there is now a telly you could get for gratuitous — you just have to deal with this whole 2d screen that plays nonstop ads . Oh , you had n’t take heed of that ? Yeah , it ’s a thing . Andit ’s actually passably good .
Is there anywhere that ’s dependable ? Well , for now , at least , Apple is n’t selling ads to third party for display on itsApple telly 4Kboxes . Do n’t desire advertizement on your home screen?Get an Apple television set 4K. But might even the swell Apple climb down off its high horse at some point ?
