Vizio TVs To Require Walmart Account: Report
Putting smart TV features behind the login wall
Roku City fans notwithstanding, few people love the ads that come with modern smart TVs. But Vizio may be crossing a new barrier for budget smart TV shoppers.
Via Ars Technica, Vizio will require users of certain new Vizio OS TVs to sign up for a Walmart account to use its streaming and smart TV features. Walmart didn’t confirm which models will be affected by this change or if it will eventually be rolled out to existing Vizio models.
In a release announcing Walmart and Vizio’s new advertisement strategy, the retailer said that its Vizio ad integrations will “respect consumer choice and privacy, with data used in aggregated, permissioned, and compliant ways.” Walmart acquired Vizio in December 2024 for $2.3 billion to support its TV equipment ecosystem and acquire Vizio’s SmartCast advertising platform.
Ads now commonplace for smart TVs
“If you’re not paying for the product, you’re the product” has been the go-to saying when it comes to online advertising. However, smart TV manufacturers have increasingly double-dipped when it comes to embedding ads on your brand-new TV.
For Vizio in particular, the budget TV brand has increasingly become an advertising platform that sells TV hardware on the side. Back in 2022, Vizio announced a pilot program to overlay ads on live TV shows, and financial disclosures have shown that its SmartCast ad platform outpaced its hardware business in revenue growth.
Tying new logins to access to full streaming TV features and support is nothing new—Roku, Google, and Amazon all have similar access walls—but Vizio’s policy change is the first time in recent memory that a retailer will be directly tied to your TV. (A Walmart representative told Ars that Vizio accounts will be merged with Walmart accounts, and users can opt out by deleting their Vizio accounts.)
What Walmart-Vizio means for you
Consumers might dislike ads, but (ad-supported free TV manufacturer Telly aside) they’re more than willing to tolerate them in exchange for built-in Netflix or lower prices. In our 2026 State of TV report, only 5% of respondents said that ads were a reason they would cancel a streaming service.
Accordingly, Vizio customers should expect more mentions of Great Value and Sam’s Club on their Vizio smart TVs. Last week, Walmart and Vizio even touted this strategy in a presentation to advertisers as a way to combine Walmart’s customer data with Vizio’s SmartCast viewer data to deliver better-targeted ads.
Want to get your TV off the grid? Our favorite option is to take your TV offline and use a third-party Roku, Amazon, Google, or Apple streaming device.
Apple notwithstanding, all these manufacturers have their own ad delivery systems, but they’re generally less obtrusive than a TV manufacturer’s ad overlays. But unless you’re willing to (ahem) sail the high seas of Plex mods, be prepared to deal with some ads if you’re shopping for smart TVs these days.
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