Walmart moves to grab a bigger chunk of the TV ad business

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The move positions Walmart more favorably in its pursuit of the big brand budgets traditionally spent on TV, and beyond the performance marketing spend that typically accounts for the largest share of its Walmart Connect ad business.

It's also the latest sign of retail media giants further expanding into new media beyond their own stores, sites, and apps.

Walmart acquired the TV-maker Vizio in 2024, helping it tap into connected-TV ad budgets. This year, it scooped up the adtech firm Vibe.co, which also focuses on streaming TV, as part of a plan to pursue small- and medium-sized advertisers. Walmart's ad revenue reached $6.4 billion in 2025.

Walmart advertisers can access this linear inventory via a private marketplace deal on its demand-side platform. It includes WBD networks such as TBS, TLC, and TruTV, and can include live sports when those networks carry them.

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Malik said he envisioned Walmart expanding into more non-digital channels.

Walmart isn't alone in chasing TV ad budgets in the fast-growing retail media space. Arch-rival Amazon — whose ad business reached $68 billion in 2025 — has spent years extending its trove of shopping data into streaming TV on Prime Video and through partnerships with Netflix, Disney, and Roku. Walmart is trying to differentiate itself by making its data available through competitor ad-buying tools, too.

"We want to make it easier for them to buy how they buy today, instead of forcing somebody into one DSP that really conquers them all," Malik said.

Kevin Dunn, chief revenue officer of Experian Marketing Services, said he expects more retail media to move "offsite" into CTV and other web properties.

The retail media space is growing rapidly, with spending set to top $203 billion this year, per Business Insider sister company EMARKETER. However, with more than 200 retail media networks worldwide, the space is becoming increasingly crowded, and some advertising pros have been calling for more consistent standards and language for measuring their effectiveness. A recent ISBA and MediaSense audit of five UK retail media networks found inconsistent metrics across them, including five different definitions of an "attributed sale."