Vizio: Difference between revisions

'''Vizio''' is a television manufacturer whose advertising & data collection business generates more gross profit than the hardware it sells. In Vizio's final quarter as an independent public company (Q3 2024), its Platform+ segment reported $115.8 million in gross profit while its Device segment lost $6.7 million.<ref name="vizio-q3-2024">{{Cite web |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241101202974/en/VIZIO-HOLDING-CORP.-Reports-Q3-2024-Financial-Results |title=VIZIO HOLDING CORP. Reports Q3 2024 Financial Results |date=2024-11-01 |website=BusinessWire}}</ref> The company has been a subsidiary of [[Walmart]] since December 2024, when Walmart completed its acquisition for $11.50 per share.<ref name="walmart-acquisition">{{Cite web |url=https://corporate.walmart.com/news/2024/12/03/walmart-completes-acquisition-of-vizio |title=Walmart Completes Acquisition of VIZIO |date=2024-12-03 |website=Walmart Corporate}}</ref> Vizio has faced an [[Federal Trade Commission|FTC]] enforcement action for unauthorized data collection, an ongoing GPL lawsuit from the Software Freedom Conservancy, & a reliability downgrade from Consumer Reports.

Vizio was founded in 2002 & built its early market share by selling budget-priced LCD televisions through big-box retailers. The company went public in March 2021 (NYSE: VZIO) & positioned itself around its SmartCast operating system & advertising capabilities rather than hardware alone.<ref name="vizio-q3-2021">{{Cite web |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211109006429/en/VIZIO-HOLDING-CORP.-Reports-Q3-2021-Financial-Results |title=VIZIO HOLDING CORP. Reports Q3 2021 Financial Results |date=2021-11-09 |website=BusinessWire}}</ref>

In Q3 2021, Platform+ generated $57.3 million in gross profit, more than double the $25.6 million the Device segment earned in the same quarter.<ref name="vizio-q3-2021" /> Three years later, the gap had widened to the point where hardware was losing money outright. By Q4 2023, Platform+ gross profit reached $105.4 million (up 27% year over year); total company gross profit for that quarter was $98.1 million, meaning the Device segment was a net drag on profitability.<ref name="vizio-q4-2023">{{Cite web |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240226026773/en/VIZIO-Holding-Corp.-Reports-Q4-2023-Financial-Results |title=VIZIO Holding Corp. Reports Q4 2023 Financial Results |date=2024-02-26 |website=BusinessWire}}</ref> By Q3 2024, Platform+ gross profit reached $115.8 million while Device posted a loss of $6.7 million.<ref name="vizio-q3-2024" />

Walmart announced its acquisition of Vizio on February 20, 2024 & completed the deal on December 3, 2024 for $11.50 per share, valuing the company at approximately $2.3 billion in fully diluted equity.<ref name="walmart-acquisition" /> The acquisition expanded Walmart's $6.4 billion advertising business by adding Vizio's SmartCast platform & its 19.1 million active user accounts.<ref name="ars-walmart-vizio">{{Cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/newly-purchased-vizio-tvs-now-require-walmart-accounts-to-use-smart-features/ |title=Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features |author=Scharon Harding |date=2026-03-24 |website=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref name="vizio-q3-2024" /> Walmart's public statements about the deal focused on Vizio's advertising platform rather than its hardware. In Walmart's fiscal Q4 2026 earnings call (February 2026), CFO John David Rainey stated that Vizio had seen "triple-digit growth in advertising" during that quarter.<ref name="ars-walmart-vizio" />

The FTC found in 2017 that Vizio collected second-by-second viewing data from 11 million smart TVs without consumer knowledge or consent, then sold that data to third parties who appended it with demographic information including sex, age, income, marital status, household size, & education level.<ref name="ftc-2017">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2017/02/vizio-pay-22-million-ftc-state-new-jersey-settle-charges-it-collected-viewing-histories-11-million |title=VIZIO to Pay $2.2 Million to FTC, State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories on 11 Million Smart Televisions without Users' Consent |date=2017-02-06 |website=Federal Trade Commission}}</ref> While Vizio's contracts with third parties prohibited re-identification of consumers by name, those contracts permitted profiling by sex, age, income, marital status, household size, education, & home ownership status.<ref name="ftc-blog-2017">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2017/02/what-vizio-was-doing-behind-tv-screen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313091120/https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2017/02/what-vizio-was-doing-behind-tv-screen |archive-date=2022-03-13 |title=What Vizio was doing behind the TV screen |author=Lesley Fair |date=2017-02-06 |website=Federal Trade Commission}}</ref> A legal analysis by Davis Wright Tremaine noted that the FTC's enforcement action against Vizio set a precedent for how regulators treat automated viewing data collection across the smart TV industry.<ref name="dwt-2017">{{Cite web |author1=McMeley |first=Christin S. |author2=Glist |first2=Paul |author3=Seiver |first3=John D. |author4=Reynolds |first4=Alexander B. |date=Oct 2017 |title=The Real Takeaway From VIZIO's Privacy FTC Settlement |url=https://www.dwt.com/blogs/media-law-monitor/2017/10/the-real-takeaway-from-vizios-privacy-ftc-settleme |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202003735/https://www.dwt.com/blogs/media-law-monitor/2017/10/the-real-takeaway-from-vizios-privacy-ftc-settleme |archive-date=2020-12-02 |website=Davis Wright Tremaine LLP}}</ref>

Vizio's current privacy policy describes the use of Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology to collect "Viewing Data" about what is displayed on the television.<ref name="vizio-privacy">{{Cite web |url=https://www.vizio.com/en/terms/privacy-policy |title=VIZIO Privacy Policy |website=Vizio |access-date=2026-03-31}}</ref> Since the Walmart acquisition, Vizio TVs present a consent toggle to combine Vizio OS data with a user's Walmart account data for advertising purposes. Even with this toggle disabled, Vizio's privacy policy states that limited data disclosure to Walmart continues for purposes including aggregate audience measurement & pseudonymized target audience groups.<ref name="vizio-privacy" />

On October 19, 2021, the [https://sfconservancy.org Software Freedom Conservancy] (SFC) filed suit against Vizio in Orange County Superior Court, California (Case No. 30-2021-01226723-CU-BC-CJC), alleging that Vizio's SmartCast operating system uses GPL-licensed software without providing the required source code to consumers.<ref name="zdnet-sfc">{{Cite web |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/software-freedom-conservancy-sues-vizio-for-gpl-violations/ |title=Software Freedom Conservancy sues Vizio for GPL violations |author=Steven Vaughan-Nichols |date=2021-10-19 |website=ZDNet}}</ref> The SFC argues that Vizio's failure to release GPL-compliant source code denies rights guaranteed to downstream users who purchased devices containing that software.<ref name="sfc-qa">{{Cite web |title=Vizio Lawsuit Q & A |url=https://sfconservancy.org/press/qanda.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020053409/https://sfconservancy.org/press/qanda.html |archive-date=2021-10-20 |website=Software Freedom Conservancy}}</ref> The case tests whether consumers can enforce GPL source code requirements as third-party beneficiaries of the license.<ref name="sfc-vizio">{{Cite web |url=https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html |title=Software Freedom Conservancy v. Vizio Inc. |website=Software Freedom Conservancy |access-date=2026-03-31}}</ref> In May 2022, a federal court remanded the case to state court, recognizing the GPL as both a copyright license & a contractual agreement. In December 2023, the court denied Vizio's motion for summary judgment.<ref name="fossa-sfc">{{Cite web |author=FOSSA Editorial Team |date=2022-05-13 |title=The Massive Implications of Software Freedom Conservancy vs. Vizio |url=https://fossa.com/blog/massive-implications-software-freedom-conservancy-vs-vizio/ |website=FOSSA}}</ref> A December 2025 ruling addressed a narrow procedural issue about device functionality after modification; the SFC stated the ruling was irrelevant to their actual claims.<ref name="sfc-dec2025">{{Cite web |url=https://sfconservancy.org/news/2025/dec/24/vizio-msa-irrelevant-ruling/ |title=Judge in Vizio Case Rules on Issue Irrelevant to Rights Under Copyleft |date=2025-12-24 |website=Software Freedom Conservancy}}</ref> Trial is set for August 10-19, 2026.<ref name="sfc-vizio" />

In March 2019, Consumer Reports removed its "recommended" designation from both Vizio & Hisense televisions, citing reliability concerns & inconsistent internet connectivity based on surveys of its members.<ref name="cr-2019">{{Cite web |date=2019-03-26 |title=Consumer Reports No Longer Recommends Vizio and Hisense TVs Due to Problems with Reliability |url=https://www.consumerreports.org/media-room/press-releases/2019/03/consumer-reports-no-longer-recommends-vizio-and-hisense-tvs-due-/ |website=Consumer Reports}}</ref>

Vizio issued a press release calling the survey "grossly inaccurate" & "deeply flawed."<ref name="vizio-cr-response">{{Cite web |url=https://www.vizio.com/en/press/2019/mar/VIZIO-responds-to-consumer-reports-grossly-inaccurate-reliability-survey-vizio-hdtvs-maintain-high-consumer-ratings-and-overall-satisfaction |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723182552/https://www.vizio.com/en/press/2019/mar/VIZIO-responds-to-consumer-reports-grossly-inaccurate-reliability-survey-vizio-hdtvs-maintain-high-consumer-ratings-and-overall-satisfaction |archive-date=2021-07-23 |title=VIZIO Responds to Consumer Reports' Grossly Inaccurate "Reliability" Survey; VIZIO HDTVs Maintain High Consumer Ratings and Overall Satisfaction |date=2019-03-28 |website=Vizio}}</ref> The response argued that connected TV performance depends on third-party service providers & home network conditions rather than the television itself. Vizio stated that applications on connected TVs depend on "a multitude of third-party service providers" & that "the number of variables involved in the performance of connected TVs is greater than for non-connected TVs," but did not present counter-data on hardware reliability rates.<ref name="vizio-cr-response" />