Walmart is buying the smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion as it attempts to expand its rapidly growing advertising business to compete with Amazon. If completed, the deal would give Walmart access to Vizio’s SmartCast operating system, allowing the retail behemoth to offer its suppliers the ability to display ads on streaming devices. Makers of streaming hardware like Roku and Vizio have increasingly shifted their focus to ad revenue in recent years. And Amazon on Jan. 29 started charging its Prime members $2.99 per month to keep their movies and TV shows ad-free, on top of the annual fee it charges for Prime.
