Walmart Connect and Index Exchange extend shopper data to open web

This move signals the maturation of retail media networks from static display platforms into multi-channel operating systems. By bridging Vizio’s streaming hardware with Walmart’s transactional data, the partnership creates a formidable alternative to the Amazon/Freevee ecosystem. For advertisers, this resolves long-standing attribution friction in CTV, shifting streaming from a reach-only channel to a measurable performance driver. As retail media spend moves offsite, the industry’s ability to prove incrementality across fragmented platforms will determine market leadership. Watch for Walmart's upcoming 'Join The Club' back-to-school campaign for secondary performance benchmarks on this integrated stack.

The expansion of Walmart Connect follows the retailer’s December 2024 closure of its $2.3 billion acquisition of Vizio. According to Marketing Dive (June 2026), this integration has been pivotal in Walmart’s internal transition away from a four-year exclusivity agreement with The Trade Desk, as the company increasingly manages its own DSP and supply-side partnerships. Recent eMarketer data from July 2026 projects that U.S. retail media ad spend will reach $71.09 billion this year, with Walmart and Amazon expected to capture nearly 90% of all net-new dollars in the category. This growth is increasingly driven by 'offsite' activations where retailers weaponize their first-party data on external streaming and social platforms.

Technically, Walmart is streamlining this cross-platform experience through a unified login system that connects Vizio devices and Walmart’s private-label Onn TVs, as reported by Mass Market Retailers in March 2026. This allows for persistent identity resolution, aiding the 'closed-loop' attribution Diana Finster highlighted. Performance metrics reported at the 2026 IAB NewFronts indicated that CTV campaigns via Walmart Connect delivered a median of 44% new-to-brand buyers in fiscal year 2026. This high conversion rate is credited to the 'content-to-commerce' model, which uses Vizio’s Inscape ACR data to track viewing habits and match them against Walmart’s database of 150 million weekly customers. Industry analysts at Osmos (July 2026) suggest that as commerce media converges with CTV, retailers are evolving from inventory sellers into full-stack technology providers, forcing pure-play streamers to adopt more rigorous measurement standards to compete for performance-based budgets.