IRVINE, Calif.—In a notable example of the growth of connected TV (CTV) advertising, Vizio has announced it closed its 2022 upfront negotiations and secured brand and agency advertising commitments in excess of $100 million, a fourfold increase over 2021.
These commitments include enterprise-level buys from six major agency holding companies and increased investment from a number of top advertising categories in traditional TV such as automotive, insurance and retail, the company said.
The TV maker also noted that the upfront success of its Vizio Ads unit was supplemented by its growing direct advertising business, which in the last year has doubled participating unique brands and tripled average revenue per advertiser.
“We’ve developed an advertising business model that is unique in the industry,” said Mike O’Donnell, chief revenue officer of VIZIO’s Platform Business. “We’re providing agencies with access to premium CTV inventory, the ability to target and measure with precision and access to insights that can inform their investment strategies for all linear and CTV.”
Vizio has increased its exclusive ad inventory with the recently launched WatchFree+, an offering of more than 260 free ad-supported TV channels.
In addition it has launched Features, with curated channels offering data-informed programming placed prominently on the SmartCast home screen. These curated products can be sponsored across verticals such as travel, food, mystery, crime, seasonal programming, themed programming collections, and pop-up channels.
