Walmart to acquire Vibe.co, expanding its connected TV ad empire
What's the deal? WalmartDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has agreed to acquire Vibe.co, a self-serve connected TV (CTV) advertising platform, to bolster its commerce media business, Walmart Connect. The deal terms were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions, including regulatory clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and is expected to close by the end of Walmart's fiscal year 2027.
Vibe.co simplifies streaming TV ad buying for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and mid-market brands. It raised a $50M Series B in September 2025 at a $410M valuation, had surpassed a $100M revenue run rate, and counted over 5,000 brands as customers.
By folding Vibe.co into Walmart Connect, Walmart aims to offer advertisers — including its third-party marketplace sellers — easier CTV campaign activation paired with its own commerce data and closed-loop measurement.
Why now? Streaming now accounts for 45% of all US TV viewership, surpassing cable and broadcast combined. Digital video ad spend, including CTV, is growing nearly three times faster than total media and was projected to hit $72B in 2025. Yet buying CTV ads remains fragmented, expensive, and complex — especially for smaller advertisers without large media teams.
Walmart has been assembling the pieces for a full-funnel ad platform. It acquired smart TV maker VIZIODealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and has struck recent partnerships with Magnite, Yahoo DSP, and Google DV360. Vibe.co fills a gap by adding a self-serve layer purpose-built for performance marketers.
What could go wrong? Integrating a startup into a retail giant is never seamless. Vibe.co's appeal rests on its independence and ease of use; folding it into a corporate ecosystem risks slowing product development or alienating existing customers who compete with Walmart's own marketplace sellers.
There's also the question of whether advertisers will trust Walmart — itself a retailer — with their campaign data. And regulatory scrutiny could surface, given Walmart's growing vertical integration across retail, media, and ad tech.
The signal: Retail media networks are no longer content with search ads and sponsored product listings. They want the big-budget brand dollars that have traditionally gone to linear TV, and CTV is the bridge. Amazon, Walmart, and others are racing to build closed-loop ecosystems where they own the audience data, the ad inventory, and the measurement.
"What we're building is the Meta for TV advertising," Vibe.co chief executive Arthur QuerouDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → said. Now that vision will be tested inside one of the world's largest retailers. If Walmart can make CTV as easy to buy as paid social — and prove it drives sales — it could reshape how billions in ad spend flow.
Read more: Walmart · Vibe.co · Variety · GlobeNewswire
