New shoppable placements, unified logins, and strong results tie streaming ads to measurable sales impact.

Walmart’s ad business is entering its scale phase: Growth is moderating, but monetization is broadening across search, display, offsite, and CTV.

This FAQ examines how shoppable media works, where consumers engage with it, and how marketers should evaluate these emerging formats.

CTV’s evolution will hit full stride in 2026 amid rising viewership, better measurement, and interactive ads.

Sell-side platform PubMatic and connected TV (CTV) ad company BrightLine announced a partnership that will bring addressable and interactive CTV ad formats to PubMatic’s programmatic platform. As interactivity becomes a critical differentiator in a crowded CTV ad landscape, marketers can use PubMatic and BrightLine’s partnership to more easily deploy interactive CTV ad formats across major publishers.

Walmart finalized its Vizio acquisition one year ago, a move that clearly telegraphed its advertising ambitions and positioned it to be a dominant retail media player. Vizio considerably strengthens Walmart’s pitch to advertisers by giving it more opportunities to get in front of engaged audiences and providing more data for better targeting and measurement. Walmart’s newfound CTV capabilities also help establish the retailer as a full-funnel ad solution, increasing its appeal to both endemic and nonendemic brands.

DirecTV has launched on Vizio Smart TVs, broadening its reach and opening fresh advertising opportunities for brands, the companies announced Monday. DirecTV’s expansion into Vizio’s smart TVs dramatically widens its streaming footprint and gives advertisers a more measurable, performance-driven environment.

The insight: Walmart sees a (near) future where customers will shop directly from their smart TVs—preferably one powered by Vizio, which the retailer purchased for $2.3 billion last year. Our take: Shoppers are gradually becoming more comfortable with the concept of shoppable TV. Whether those occasional behaviors become habit will depend on platforms’ ability to offer ads that are personalized and relevant. That puts Walmart at an advantage, given its troves of first-party data—although it faces tough competition from the likes of Amazon and Roku.

Walmart’s Q1 ad revenues surged 50% year over year: Vizio’s integration is powering its leap into connected TV and retail media dominance.

Vizio boosts Walmart’s retail media edge: New beta program brings exclusive connected TV inventory under Walmart’s direct control.

Shoppable ads will be a focus for brands in 2025 as they test new formats offered by retail media networks and their media partners.

Don’t count Roku out: The CTV provider hit 90 million US households, cementing its leadership even as the sector undergoes major consolidation.

The year of AI: Artificial intelligence invaded all aspects of life in 2024, from work to play and generation to generation. New genAI players appeared to take on megaliths like Google and Meta. It would be a copout to say that 2025 will bring more of the same, but we expect startups to begin taking more market share from Big Tech and challenging the status quo.

CTV manufacturers don’t mind selling at a loss: High market penetration leads Vizio and others to turn to advertising’s lucrative potential.

Walmart Connect attracts marketers, gaining ground over Amazon: Digiday data shows that marketers are enticed by Walmart’s growth and unique ad space.

Walmart is unlikely to put Vizio data behind closed doors: A renewed measurement deal with Comscore could assuage concerns about signal loss.

Retail media is the fastest-growing ad channel we track in the US, driven by new innovations, inventory growth, and new players launching media networks. Here’s a look at some of the biggest retail media moves from the first six months of 2024.

Catch up on how FAST services are shaking up TV advertising.

New data sets, often referred to as big data, are revolutionizing the way we understand television viewing patterns. Find out how these insights are benefiting both buyers and sellers in the media industry.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what TV even is anymore, how the redefining of TV is reshaping marketers' approach, and why not all data is created equal. "In Other News," we talk about why live TV is the new streaming and the real reason Walmart bought TV-maker Vizio. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Ross Benes and Alison Gensheimer, head of Nielsen marketing.