Everybody wants in on the $60 billion that retail media is projected to make in 2025, according to Emarketer. For many agencies, retailers, and adtech firms, that means striking deals with other players to reach new audiences and data about what people buy.
As we close out 2024, ADWEEK asked three execs and industry analysts which partnerships were most significant in reshaping the retail and commerce media landscape this year.
Walmart’s big CTV play: acquiring Vizio
In February, Walmart announced its acquisition of TV manufacturer Vizio in a deal that’s expected to bolster the retailer’s advertising business, Walmart Connect. The $2.3 acquisition closed in December.
The move gives Walmart access to Vizio’s SmartCast Operating System, which has more than 18 million accounts. That data, combined with Walmart’s first-party data and Vizio’s ability to tell what people are watching through its automatic content recognition tech, could create the foundation for a closed-loop system to compete with Amazon.
“The video piece was lacking,” said Andrew Lipsman, an independent retail media analyst. “[Getting] access to the TVs themselves, which are points of integration for all the content and advertising experiences, is strategically important. But also it’s direct access to a nice chunk of CTV inventory, so they can accelerate that ambition much sooner than they would have been able to if they tried to build it organically.”
One question on the minds of media buyers: Will Walmart keep Vizio’s ACR data to itself?
“[That] would be a pretty big shock to the system,” Steven Frey, planning director at Noble People, told ADWEEK. Currently, advertisers are able to use that data to inform their CTV strategy across the ecosystem.
“If they do make that more of an exclusive data set, it would increase the value of Walmart Connect inventory by quite a bit,” he continued. “[It would] make the case for the value that can be propped up in that ecosystem.”
Publicis continues buying spree with Mars United Commerce
Publicis has spent the last five years scouting and acquiring companies to create a retail media powerhouse. The company bought Epsilon in 2019, CitrusAd in 2021, Profitero in 2022, and then Mars United Commerce in September.