Walmart and Roku have entered an exclusive ad agreement. Roku viewers can use their Roku remotes and stored payment information to buy products directly from the retailer’s ads on the platform. They won’t be redirected to Walmart’s website or need to capture QR codes on their phones to complete orders while watching their favorite shows. Walmart U.S. Chief Marketing Officer William White said that the ads would initially come from Walmart, but he expects supplier brands also to participate.
“As we launch, this will be Walmart advertising,” White said. “But it certainly creates opportunities to think about how we partner with our key suppliers to bring their products and brands to life.”
“As we launch, this will be Walmart advertising,” White said. “But it certainly creates opportunities to think about how we partner with our key suppliers to bring their products and brands to life.”
According to Roku Head of TV Commerce Peter Hamilton, this deal will bring together a streaming platform used by about half of U.S. households and a retailer shopped by about 90% of the U.S. households. Executives from both companies declined to provide details on payment terms or revenue sharing.
“Walmart is the exclusive retail partner today,��� Hamilton said, “and we plan to begin testing with other brands that sell through Walmart later in the year. So, as it stands, this is an exclusive partnership.”
This is a first-of-its-kind partnership between a retailer and a streaming platform. Hamilton went on to say that the ease of making purchases using a Roku remote eases the process of scanning QR codes to get to a website to complete purchases on mobile devices.
This deal gives an upper hand to Walmart to compete with Amazon Prime, a major online retail and streaming platform.
William White said, “There’s a tremendous runway in terms of how this can continue to evolve. Walmart was the first to market with shoppable livestreams on TikTok, Twitter and Youtube. We were the first to market with shoppable recipes on Pinterest and first to market with Twitter native checkout. And I think it’s a natural evolution for us to move into TV.”