Walmart Connect Opens Up CTV Activation With a Curated DSP Marketplace

Walmart Connect today launched Connect Select, a curated marketplace inside the Walmart DSP that packages connected TV inventory against specific campaign objectives. According to Chain Store Age, Connect Select surfaces recommended inventory optimized for reach and awareness, with deals built around objectives such as product launches, discovery, and brand building. Walmart Connect also announced expanded integrations with technology partners Pacvue and Skai.

The launch is the latest step in Walmart’s buildout of Vizio, which it acquired and made a wholly-owned subsidiary at the end of 2024. Walmart Connect itself was launched in 2021 as a revamped version of the former Walmart Media Group.

What Connect Select Includes at Launch

At launch, Connect Select includes inventory from Vizio, CTV publishers Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, and supply-side platforms FreeWheel, Index Exchange, Magnite, and PubMatic. According to Chain Store Age’s reporting on the announcement, the SSP partnerships enable post-auction optimizations.

Advertisers also have access to omnichannel formats including online video, display, and audio. Deals are available through Inventory Controls and Deal Desk. The product is positioned to let advertisers measure how connected TV influences the full funnel and optimize toward outcomes including reduced wasted ad spend and improved media efficiency.

The Pacvue and Skai Integrations

The expanded technology partner integrations are designed to help advertisers plan, activate, and optimize full-funnel onsite and offsite campaigns in one environment. Pacvue will support campaign management and reporting. Skai will provide reporting capabilities at launch.

That role split is the line in the announcement worth pausing on. Pacvue’s role at launch covers both managing campaigns and reporting on them. Skai’s role at launch is reporting only. For any Walmart Connect program currently running through one of those two platforms, the practical question is what that distinction means for how Connect Select campaigns get planned and activated in the meantime, and how soon Skai’s role expands. Walmart Connect’s announcement does not yet answer either question directly.

Both companies are widely used by Walmart Marketplace sellers and other multi-platform advertisers for sponsored search and onsite display campaign management. In a March 2025 interview with Marketing Dive on the launch of the Display Advertising API, Walmart Connect’s Ryan Mayward described the role of those partners as helping solve complexity for advertisers selling across multiple e-commerce platforms, with Walmart’s intent being to support that work. The Connect Select integrations extend that working relationship into CTV.

Where Connect Select Sits in Walmart Connect’s Recent Build

Connect Select is the second self-service expansion Walmart Connect has announced this month. Two weeks ago, eMarketer reported that Walmart Connect had opened self-service access to full-funnel retail media campaigns on Meta, with TikTok set to follow later this year.

Connect Select also follows Walmart’s IAB NewFronts presentation on March 23, where the company detailed its content-to-commerce strategy alongside Vizio. In that announcement, Walmart cited first-party survey data showing that 65% of surveyed Walmart customers reported CTV ads helped them discover new products.

The financial backdrop is meaningful. Walmart’s global advertising revenue grew 46% in fiscal 2026 to $6.4 billion, with Walmart Connect in the US growing 41% in the fourth quarter alone, according to Walmart’s fiscal 2026 earnings disclosures.

What Suppliers and Sellers Should Watch

For 1P suppliers already running CTV inside the Walmart DSP, Connect Select adds another packaging option and potentially additional reach into smaller publishers. The fundamental access to the channel does not change.

For 3P Marketplace sellers, the asymmetry between Pacvue and Skai at launch is the part of the announcement most worth watching. Pacvue’s role covers both management and reporting from day one. Skai’s covers reporting only. According to first-party data Walmart publishes on its small business pages, Marketplace sellers who advertised on Walmart Connect in fiscal 2025 generated, on average, seven times the sales of sellers who did not. Whether the Connect Select integrations materially change CTV adoption among 3P sellers will depend on how the activation paths and the Skai role evolve in the coming quarters.

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