Walmart Connect Is Building the Ecosystem Amazon Doesn’t Have

This week at Cannes, Walmart is making noise and generating headlines with many high-profile acquisitions, relaunches, and brand executions.

Between unveiling a unified global commerce media vision, rebranding Sam’s Club MAP to Sam’s Club Connect, opening Walmart Connect International to Mexico and Canada, and today’s acquisition of self-serve CTV platform Vibe.co, there’s a clear and deliberate strategy taking shape.

Walmart is building a centralized advertising ecosystem that extends well beyond Walmart.com, and we think it’s one of the smartest moves in retail media right now.

The Honest Self-Assessment Behind the Strategy

Amazon generated $68 billion in advertising revenue last year. Walmart’s global ad business hit $6.4 billion, with impressive 46% growth, but is still roughly 10% of Amazon’s scale. Rather than pretend the audience gap doesn’t exist, Ryan Mayward and Seth Dallaire are playing a different game: instead of trying to own all the inventory, make Walmart’s first-party data accessible across the platforms where audiences already live.

That’s why Walmart ended its exclusive Trade Desk partnership last year, opening Walmart shopper data to Magnite, Google DV360 for YouTube campaigns, and Yahoo DSP. That’s what Connect Select, the new curated CTV marketplace within Walmart DSP, is doing by including inventory from VIZIO, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery alongside SSP integrations with FreeWheel, Index Exchange, Magnite, and PubMatic. And that’s the logic behind acquiring Vibe.co as well, which is a self-serve CTV platform with over 10,000 advertisers that makes streaming TV accessible for as little as $500, backed by Walmart’s closed-loop measurement.

The strategy isn’t to out-Amazon Amazon. It’s to make Walmart’s data ubiquitous and accessible to all advertisers from SMB through Enterprise, whether they sell through Walmart Marketplace or First Party.

A Platform Built for More Than Big Brands

As mentioned, one of the most underappreciated angles is what Vibe.co does for SMBs and mid-market sellers. CTV has historically required significant budgets and dedicated media teams to access meaningfully. A self-serve CTV entry point changes that for the long tail of Walmart marketplace sellers who couldn’t previously compete in upper-funnel media.

The international piece is similarly significant. Walmart Connect International now spans Mexico, Canada, and Chile, and Walmart recently opened Walmart.com directly to Mexican shoppers, which will ideally translate into a closed-loop measurement loop that extends meaningfully internationally, not just domestically. That’s a durable new audience for brands with cross-border ambitions.

What This Means for Advertisers

If you’re advertising on Walmart today and only activating onsite search, you’re reaching a narrower slice of Walmart’s audience than what’s now available. The off-site, CTV, and international footprint is growing fast, and the measurement infrastructure to justify those investments is catching up quickly.

Podean helps brands build Walmart strategies that go beyond sponsored search. Ready to explore what a full-funnel Walmart Connect plan looks like for your brand? Get in touch at podean.com/contact.