The U.S. retail giant Walmart is reportedly holding discussions with Vizio over a possible acquisition of that company, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. If the acquisition goes ahead, it would likely give Walmart a considerable boost in the affordable smart TV segment, where it already offers its Onn branded TVs.
In addition, the acquisition would also give Walmart access to tons of viewer data and advertising revenues via Vizio’s Smart TV platform.
The market for affordable TVs is becoming more competitive these days as consumers scale back their purchases of more premium TVs amid ongoing economic malaise. Companies such as Amazon, Roku and the U.K.’s Sky have all started selling their own, branded smart TVs, and many of them are pretty decent models too, featuring many features, such as Mini-LED and QLED displays, HDMI 2.1 ports and 120Hz refresh rates, that were formerly only to be found in premium TVs,
Vizio is another big player in the affordable smart TV segment, with last year’s Vizio 4K Quantum X TVs looking like an especially compelling option for consumers on a budget. That model notably featured a QLED display and support for advanced gaming features such as VRR and ALLM.
Walmart has shown itself to be quite ambitious in the TV industry, having launched its own Onn TV brand recently. It has also announced a partnership with Roku to create “shoppable ads” that will enable consumers to buy its products directly from their TV.
If Walmart were to acquire Vizio, however, it would suddenly become a much more powerful player in the TV market, giving it a substantial market presence and also a new revenue stream through Vizio’s growing advertising business. The acquisition would potentially allow Walmart to start selling ad spots to other companies, which is something it already does via a number of smaller TV brands.
Vizio is a much bigger brand though, and any acquisition would likely mean Walmart becomes one of the best places to snap up one of the company’s TVs.
Neither Walmart nor Vizio commented on the report, but the Journal has a pretty good track record in such matters, so there may well be some negotiations going on. Though, the report adds that nothing has been confirmed at this time, so the deal could still fall through.
