MMM: Walmart Expands Advertising Prospects with Vizio Acquisition; Etsy Q4 2023 Earnings Results and Trends

Key Takeaways:

• Walmart’s Q4 FY24 EPS and revenue exceeded street estimates, fueled by resilient consumer demand and its budding advertising network. The company reported a 17% YoY increase in both its e-commerce sales and weekly active e-commerce customers in Q4 FY24, directionally in line with Sensor Tower mobile app WAUs for the Walmart app (+9% YoY)

• Looking ahead, Walmart’s bottom line growth will undoubtedly be bolstered by high margin, fast growing business lines such as advertising, which may eventually offset volatile performance in other business segments (grocery, ecommerce, etc). Per ST data, Walmart exhibited material growth in its retail media network throughout 2023 with total impressions on its network up almost 200% YoY

  • Walmart recently announced that it would acquire TV manufacturer Vizio. ST data shows that Walmart is currently under penetrated in OTT advertising via its retail media network as OTT accounted for only 2% of total digital impressions served by the company in 2023. This acquisition provides Walmart access to a vast panel of connected TV users to serve ads to given that the company will own and operate the operating systems within Vizio’s smart TVs

• Etsy’s 4Q23 earnings highlighted a 3% YoY increase in active buyers during the biggest sales-period for the brand, in line with ST DAUs for the Etsy app (+1% YoY). On the other hand, Etsy struggled to drive user acquisition during this competitive period with downloads down -4% YoY, which may suggest that activity and purchases came from repeat (or existing users) rather than new ones

• Etsy US ad spend tied to creatives highlighting holiday/cyber keywords increased 480% YoY in 2023 while spending connected to gifting keywords increased 250% YoY as the company actively positioned itself as a gift hub for all occasions

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