Capitalizing on the success of dedicated content hubs within its TVOS to help users navigate viewing options across services, Vizio during its NewFronts pitch to advertisers unveiled plans for a new personalized hub that collocates not only programming and watchlists, but also retail and shopping offers.
The new feature on Walmart-owned Vizio’s smart TV platform, dubbed MyHub, is meant to both help consumer content discovery and tune-in challenges and give new space for brands and advertisers to get in front of viewers with special personalized discounts and shopping offers.
On stage in New York City last Monday, Vizio execs described how users with a Vizio account can use MyHub as a centralized spot for a variety of shopping and viewing needs.
Users can use MyHub to save favorite shows, watchlists, view personal photos, be alerted about upcoming game times or when a favorite series has a new episode, get informed when movies go on sale for rent or purchase – and notably, find sponsored content and personalized shopping deals such as for a local pizza place, streaming services and bundles (or a discount on Walmart+ memberships, for example).
Christina Ruiz, VP of Product Marketing and Communications described MyHub as where “pizza deals and playoff schedules finally live in harmony.” And it’s where Vizio wants advertiser integrations to be seamless rather than intrusive, adding “convenience isn’t just a feature, it’s the strategy.”
Vizio has created dedicated content hubs to help viewers navigate content before, including a sports hub, gaming hub, and newsroom, which the company said have proved popular and successful - including sports by providing a simple and centralized zone in a fragmented content landscape.
“We're continuing to evolve it into a true one stop shop for live sports, which in turn is driving even stronger advertiser demand across categories,” said Travis Hockersmith, Group VP of Platform+ at Vizio during the presentation.
“This is how you reach high intent, action ready viewers before they tune-in, by owning their path to live coverage,” Ruiz told ad buyers, adding that sports are driving performance across verticals and across the marketing funnel.
That success led to expansion into other sports like a dedicated pro soccer zone and one for golf.
For example, when golf was recently added into the Vizio Sports Zone in April featuring men’s and women’s tournaments, it became the TV platform’s second-most visited Vizio sports page, per Ruiz – with launch timing that coincided with and likely got a boost from the Masters Tournament.
CTV competitor Roku has similarly introduced hubs, including a dedicated Sports Experience, to ease the burden of finding what and where to watch as rights and games splinter across services.
It’s not just consumers that appear to like dedicated hubs, but advertisers as well. Vizio is gearing up for the US Open and rolling out premium sponsorships that let brands align “with every swing, every hole, and every major,” Ruiz said.
Execs said the sports zone has done well across advertising verticals and has been sponsored by insurance companies and beverage brands like Sprite.
MyHub builds on that as a place for both programming and retail opportunities to live side-by-side.
Like other connected TV OS players and OEMs, Vizio also wants to leverage its home screen status as the jumping off point for TV viewing and to bring in CTV ad dollars and placement opportunities for marketers.
According to Vizio executives on stage at the event, more than 60% of viewing on Vizio TVs is done via streaming, Vizio users spend an average of 31 minutes per day on the home screen and the platform has an estimated reach of 79 million people.
Pairing TVOS and retail media
With MyHub, Ruiz said Vizio views it as a first step to shoppable TV.
“For our partners it unlocks a powerful new canvas to promote national or local offers, limited time deals, and retail moments that convert right from the living room,” Hockersmith added.
The marriage of retail and connected TV is one of particular interest for Vizio, which was acquired in December by retail giant Walmart in a $2.3 billion transaction. The companies shared some updates at NewFronts about what the retailer likes and how it plans to utilize its new smart TVOS assets in conjunction with Walmart’s larger retail and ads business.
As part of the effort to integrate viewing data and retail shopping data and making it easier for advertisers, Walmart is going to make Vizio CTV inventory available through the Walmart DSP (demand-side platform), available for select advertisers to start.
“That means streamlining the CTV buying in one platform powered by Walmart shopper data and closed loop measurement,” Ruiz said on stage.
However, for those that are looking to use Walmart shopping data to target Vizio ads, efforts reportedly won’t come cheap. AdWeek earlier this month reported that Walmart is starting to test Walmart-run ads on Vizio and that the retailer is seeking $200,000 minimums from retail media advertisers, according to ad buyers interviewed by the publication and briefed on Walmart-Vizio’s pitch.
Meanwhile, on stage at NewFronts, Seth Dallaire, EVP and chief growth officer at Walmart US, explained some of what the company loves about Vizio is the company's focus on innovation and that there are adjacencies in the advertising businesses including through its Walmart Connect retail media network.
On that note, he said CTV is one the fastest growing inventory areas for the Walmart Connect ad business and sees efforts with Vizio as a complementary to a typical retail media network (RMN) that previously focused more on mid-lower funnel, noting they can serve different parts of the marketing funnel.
According to Dallaire, historically, Walmart hasn’t had a lot of connected TV in its portfolio, which Vizio brings to the table alongside learnings for Walmart in terms of objectives for marketers, while Walmart meanwhile has a very specific way that it talks about retail media offerings and the objectives of advertising to Walmart customers as they shop.
“So being able to work together, bring something forward that answers objectives or meets maybe a new set of criteria that hasn’t been able to have been met before is important, it’s part of the learning journey for us,” Dallaire.
To that end they have the joint ad offering in beta, although he added that doesn’t mean it’s the only way Vizio and Walmart will be working together. Dallaire also noted that Vizio provides it with “a lot of things to consider related to membership” of the Walmart+ membership subscription program.
Still, while looking to cater to advertisers, execs reiterated it’s all about customer satisfaction on Vizio devices and within the TVOS, which not only helps consumers but marketing partners as well.