IRVINE, Calif.—Vizio has unveiled some significant upgrades to the design and user experience for WatchFree+, Vizio’s free streaming service that comes built into millions of Vizio Smart TVs.

Vizio’s free ad-supported streaming TV service WatchFree+ is getting a refreshed brand design and user experience, including a new entertainment programming guide.

According to Vizio, the new update features a more intuitive Electronic Program Guide (EPG) – the place where users go to browse linear channels in a familiar fashion similar to traditional pay TV or cable – with faster and easier navigation alongside more personalized features.

According to digital consultancy Tubular Labs in its research paper “Navigating Social Video in 2023: What you need to thrive,” engaging target audiences is a key objective for many brands, and social video is a “must-have” channel to achieve this goal.

However, the speed at which trends turnover is getting faster and faster. In one three-month period more than 1.3 million sports-related videos were uploaded across multiple platforms. The volume of video uploaded to social sites can overwhelm even the best resourced marketing teams.

VIZIO has unveiled an upgraded design and user experience for WatchFree+, VIZIO’s free streaming service that comes built into millions of VIZIO Smart TVs. This latest update brings a new look and feel, intuitive Electronic Program Guide (EPG), faster and easier navigation, and personalization features to the free streaming service. WatchFree+ has grown to include more than 260 free channels and 6,000 titles on demand, offering an ever-expanding library of movies, TV shows, news, sports, music, and programs.

The programmatic plans are moot, though, without CTV inroads. Which is why Magnite touted partnerships with LG Ads, Vizio, Disney and GroupM.

Right now, Magnite is especially cashing in on partnerships with smart TV manufacturers. Last month, Vizio integrated a product from SpringServe, Magnite’s CTV ad server, that supports customizable ad units and personalized content recommendations on smart TV home screens and search libraries.

Vizio says it has received $200 million in upfront commitments -- twice the level of a year ago.

Michael Morris, media analyst of Guggenheim Securities, says this is good news coming in the midst of a “challenging environment” for TV/CTV ad sellers. Vizio's results beat its estimates, and Morris maintains Vizio's rating as a “buy.”

Big Number: 2.6 millionThat’s how many visitors Jimmy Donaldson, better known by his YouTube name MrBeast, directed to Nike.com in June, according to data from Tubular. The figure reflects how powerful creators can be for brands. That 2.6 million is 5% of MrBeast’s audience on YouTube and Facebook, according to the data.

Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 19 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Sports continue to reign supreme, taking four of the top five spots for the most-watched programming during the week. NFL games accounted for 5.56% of minutes watched, down slightly from the previous week's 5.89%. On the other hand, college football saw an increase in watch-time, up to 4.70% from 3.95% previously.

Vizio and the network partners who make up the Project OAR consortium have “made incredible progress turning the concept of addressable delivery in linear for connected TVs into a reality,” and support IAB Tech Lab’s efforts to broaden adoption of addressable advertising standards, said Ken Norcross, head of data licensing at Inscape, Vizio’s ACR division.

VIZIO Holding Corp. (VZIO) reported Q3 EPS of $0.01, in-line with the analyst estimate of $0.01. Revenue for the quarter came in at $435 million versus the consensus estimate of $450.06 million.

Vizio Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO) today reported third quarter results that missed analysts’ consensus estimate.

Revenue for the Irvine seller of TVs and ad services fell 26% to $435 million from the year prior. Analysts, on average, estimated that Vizio would perform slightly better this third quarter, forecasting $438 million in revenue.

VIZIO Holding Corp. (VZIO) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.01 per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This compares to loss of $0.10 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

Meanwhile, Vizio’s decision to launch an ad-supported streaming platform continues to pay dividends. The platform surpassed 16.6 million active accounts in the quarter, generating $128 million in ad revenue — up 49% from revenue of $85.5 million last year.

Total Vizio user hours increased 11% to 8.12 million hours from 7.3 million. SmartCast hours increased 17% to 4.2 million from 3.6 million. More importantly, average revenue per user increased 39% to $27.7 from $19.9.

Vizio swung to a profit in the third-quarter as gains at its Platform Plus business more than offset a drop in device sales.

Net income was $2 million, or 1 cent a share, compared to a net loss of $18.6 million, or 10 cents a share, a year ago.

For years, brands have been perfecting personalisation strategies that resonate with consumers and make them feel like individuals. For many B2C brands like PepsiCo, classic personalisation has meant plugging simple forms of data like email, names, addresses or recent purchases into outbound channel communications to ensure touchpoints are viewed as timely, relevant and contextual.

Tim Glomb, VP of content and data at Cheetah Digital and Chris Muscutt, head of martech at PepsiCo, recently discussed their take on the use of zero- and first-party data and technology to power effective strategies.

Irvine-based Vizio Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO) said yesterday it secured a multi-year extension of its distribution partnership with Fox Corp. (Nasdaq: FOXA, FOX).

The expanded partnership adds the Fox Sports app to Vizio’s Smart TVs and the Fox Weather Channel to Vizio’s streaming service, WatchFree+. Existing ad-supported Fox channels on
Vizio’s platform include news channel Fox LiveNow and Fox Soul, “a live and interactive streaming channel dedicated to the African American viewer,” Fox said.

Alan Wolk, the co-founder and lead analyst at TVRev, joined Cheddar News to discuss the new subscription model for the streaming giant Netflix.

As far as content goes, it’s content made by creators — not the brands themselves — that moves the needle the most. Brit Starr, senior vice president of strategy at CreatorIQ, said brands with big budgets are reaping rewards with rising engagement rates.

“Consumers became a lot more selective about the creators and brands that they align themselves with,” she said of social media’s shifting landscape. “We’re continuing to see increased investment in influencer marketing, increased attention to how to appropriately measure and understand the impact of your efforts so you can make the most informed decisions.

The Fox Sports app is now available on Vizio smart TVs, the companies said Thursday. Tubi, Fox Nation and Fox Now will continue to be available on Vizio TVs, and Fox Weather was added to Vizio’s WatchFree+ along with existing…

The Fox Sports app is now available on VIZIO Smart TVs, joining Tubi, FOX Nation, and Fox Now. As part of the agreement, the Fox Weather channel has been added to VIZIO WatchFree+, alongside existing Fox ad-supported channels LiveNOW and FoxSoul.