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Walmart is one of the nation’s more prominent advertisers, but, increasingly, it’s looking to become a bigger sell of advertising as well.
The retailing giant, which offers video-advertising inventory around its stores
and via its Vizio TV-manufacturing unit, said Tuesday that it intends to acquire Vibe.co, a platform that allows advertisers to buy and create digital ads. Walmart sees the purchase as one way to facilitate more business from small and medium-sized marketers who might not typically buy commercials on a national media platform.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Walmart indicated the transaction was subject to a waiting period and other customary closing conditions.
“Walmart Connect is focused on making commerce media more accessible, more measurable and easier to activate for advertisers of all sizes,” said Ryan Mayward, general manager and senior vice president, Walmart Connect U.S., in a prepared statement “Vibe.co has created a purpose-built platform that simplifies streaming TV advertising, and together, we can help more businesses connect with customers across streaming environments while measuring the impact of those campaigns through Walmart’s commerce capabilities.”
Walmart is just the latest national ad seller to make new efforts to attract local and regional advertisers. Many of these marketers are looking to bolster their customer base with national commercials, or to get more deeply into video advertising to boost sales.
The new deal builds on recent partnerships Walmart has struck Magnite, Yahoo DSP, and Google DV360.
Walmart on Tuesday offered some peek at its vision for selling advertising by unveiling some of its intentionsto roll out new video series to Vizio users that feature celebrity hosts and influencers talking about certain kinds of shopping occasions, such as early-summer patio and garden sales or interest in going back to school.
Following the close of the transaction, Arthur Querou and Frank Tetzlaff, co-founders of Vibe.co, will join Walmart Connect. The parties expect the transaction to close by the end of fiscal year 2027. Walmart saikd it does not expect the transaction to have any effect on recent projections tied to sales and operating income.
