Dive Brief:

• Walmart Connect, the retailer’s advertising network, is reporting results above benchmarks for key performance indicators in test-and-learn partnerships with Roku, TikTok and TalkShopLive, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
• Danone North America connected to more than 30% new-to-brand buyers in a CTV campaign. On TikTok, the retailer was the first to successfully provide closed-loop measurement for campaigns.
• NBCUniversal (NBCU) is the latest member of the Walmart Connect Partner Lab and will test a first-to-market offering that closes the loop between retail media ads within live sports streaming. These developments come as the retailer looks to build on the strong momentum of its advertising division.

Dive Insight:

The test-and-learn results as well as new and expanded partnerships speak to Walmart's commitment to growing Walmart Connect, the retailer's advertising division that saw sales increase nearly 40% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024.

NBCU's partnership with Walmart Connect represents the first time the broadcaster’s live sports streaming inventory will be available through a retail media network. The media conglomerate has long experimented with ways to tie ads to commerce, and connecting its premium inventory to purchasing data and the media network's CTV bundle seeks to meet marketer demands around targeting and measurement capabilities.

Danone North America connected to more than 30% new-to-brand buyers in one CTV campaign, with a complimentary Onsite Display campaign on Walmart.com driving 50% of attributed sales, Mary Katherine Woltz, Danone's director of media connections, said in a Walmart blog post.

Along with adding its premium inventory to the CTV bundle, Roku reported strong results for tests of previously announced partnerships on a platform where more than half of streamers (57%) have paused an ad to shop for the product online. Shoppable ads received at least three-times higher click-through rates than average video campaigns powered by the Walmart DSP during a pilot that ran from November 2022 to February 2023.

Some marketers are optimistic about the potential to connect CTV with retail media. 

"We believe a frictionless omnichannel shopping experience is where the industry is going and should go," said Jeff Metzner, vice president of Walmart team marketing and communications at Procter & Gamble, in the release. "The ability to purchase a product directly from a connected TV ad has potential to reduce that friction for the consumer, so we’d like to see these capabilities continue to develop."  

Walmart's partnership with TikTok represented the first time a retailer successfully provided closed-loop measurement for campaigns on the platform. Pilot campaigns saw an average of two-times higher engagement rates than TikTok’s standard benchmarks for campaigns in the U.S., while Walmart customers' average video viewing time also exceeded industry benchmarks, per the blog.

The retailer's partnership with TalkShopLive is driving results around engagement, reach and overall value of livestream events. A recent livestream with multiple electronic suppliers powered by Walmart Connect and TalkShopLive notched 86% higher total viewership, 30% higher average watch time and two-times higher conversions than average benchmarks.

Walmart’s advertising division is also beta testing new in-store advertising formats as consumers resume brick-and-mortar shopping, and announced a group of new creative partners to help brands produce more effective self-service campaigns.