While Roku's player segment generated just $269 million in device sales through the first three quarters of 2022, Vizio sold $988 million of TVs and devices in the same period. Roku's total revenue topped $2 billion through the first nine months of the year, so if it can reach a scale closer to Vizio's level of sales as an example, TVs could provide a major revenue boost for the company.

A Vizio executive said this week the company is not overly concerned with competition from Roku after the streaming platform announced its intention to design and make its own smart TVs.

Speaking at the 25th annual Needham Growth Conference on Tuesday, Vizio Chief Revenue and Strategic Growth Officer Mike O'Donnell said his electronics company has been in the television space for more than two decades, and competition from other companies "is nothing new for us."

Inscape, VIZIO’s data and technology division, has taken steps to help ensure its ACR data is nationally representative of the U.S. population. VIZIO’s popularity, coupled with availability at major U.S. retailers and a wide range of prices, attracts consumers from all demographics. As the basis for the Inscape TV panel, there is a natural alignment with the U.S. population.

While many viewers still watch linear TV, an increasing number of them have turned to streaming, while others take a hybrid approach and use both. Targeting ads to these disparate audiences requires precision targeting not only by format, but also by intent. That can be a challenge, but highly rewarding when done right.

VIZIO recently conducted a case study examining how an automotive brand accomplished exactly that. Using Inscape Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) data, the company was able to identify distinct audiences across different TV formats and deliver ads individually to CTV audiences.

It has gained attention for its ability to attract consumers with streaming advertising campaigns tied to local broadcast TV’s digital efforts. Now, Madhive has named a former Roku and Hulu executive with experience at Katz Media Group and Tribune Co. to her name its new SVP of Sales.

In this new position, Wnuk will build on Madhive’s streaming campaigns for local broadcasters and advertisers, continuing to drive adoption of the company’s all-inclusive infrastructure solution for modern TV advertising. Wnuk will also provide an entry point for national brands and adtech companies to leverage Madhive’s enterprise streaming TV infrastructure to execute local campaigns at national scale.

With the addition of RSNs, Fubo’s price change does not necessarily come as a surprise, according to TVREV co-founder and analyst Alan Wolk.

Via Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of VIZIO with insights from a panel of more than 20 million opted-in 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).

After a two-month run in 2022, Lighthouse Immersive and Impact Museums are welcoming a second, limited-time run of Immersive Monet & The Impressionists, now open at Lighthouse Dallas.

“The immersive shows that we have brought to Dallas so far have been a cultural boon for the city,” said Diana Rayzman, co-founder of Impact Museums, in a statement. “We invite Dallas audiences who have caught Immersive Van Gogh and Immersive Frida Kahlo to experience the latest offering in the immersive art industry."

As for the higher end sets, it’s still unclear what will set them apart from higher end Samsung, LG or VIZIO TVs, especially at a time when consumers have a tough time figuring out why one 65 inch 4K OLED TV is different from the next.

Pluto TV has a history of offering its content streams to third parties for their own free streaming platforms. In the United States, dozens of Pluto TV feeds are available on Samsung TV Plus, Vizio WatchFree Plus and on the free version of Sling TV.

And TVREV co-founder and analyst Alan Wolk expects the CTV OS wars will be the most important battle in streaming for 2023, though most of the action is happening outside the U.S.

TVOS is a big deal, Wolk wrote in a January 3 blog, because with ownership of the smart TV interface also comes power.

“They are the gatekeepers for programming: which apps to allow on the interface, how easy they are to find, how much those programmers have to pay to have their content featured on the home screen,” wrote Wolk. “Owning the OS also gives those companies a lot of data about program and ad viewership that they can both monetize and use to improve the consumer experience.”

With more streaming players getting in on the smart TV action, TVREV analyst Alan Wolk in a recent column pointed to the importance of owning the smart TV interface.

“They are the gatekeepers for programming: which apps to allow on the interface, how easy they are to find, how much those programmers have to pay to have their content featured on the home screen,” wrote Wolk. “Owning the OS also gives those companies a lot of data about program and ad viewership that they can both monetize and use to improve the consumer experience.”

According to Vizio, the National Football League (NFL) had 6 percent of all linear TV minutes measured from September 1 to November 21, 2022, while college football had just over 4.5 percent of measured minutes. Major League Baseball (MLB) programming was in third place with just over 1 percent of all total live minutes measured.

The data was released by Vizio Inscape, the company’s data measurement arm, and TV ad measurement firm iSpot.tv. It was first published in the December 2022 edition of Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

In other Genius Brands news, the company is launching its Kartoon Channel! platform on Vizio Smart TV today, leveraging its catalogue of original (Superhero Kindergarten) and licensed (Peppa Pig) content. The kid-focused OTT channel will also join the in-flight entertainment lineup on British Airways, Qatar Airways, Aer Lingus and Iberia.

The data was released by Vizio Inscape, the company’s data measurement arm, and TV ad measurement firm iSpot.tv. It was first published in the December 2022 edition of Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

According to Vizio Insight and iSpot.TV, the most-watched content on linear television during the fall season was:
National Football League: 5.99%
College football: 4.57%
Major League Baseball: 1.02%
Law & Order, Special Victims Unit: 0.95%
ABC’s Good Morning America: 0.79%
NBC’s Today Show: 0.73%
ESPN’s SportsCenter: 0.67%
Friends: 0.61%
NCIS: 0.53%
Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends: 0.52%

The entry into manufacturing is the reverse of what smart-TV makers Samsung, Vizio and LG have done in recent years. While continuing to manufacture electronics, they have expanded their streaming presence across original programming and FAST channels, looking to create advertiser-friendly complements to their hardware.

While funding dried up, advertisers’ spending on influencers continued to grow, as we had forecast. The number of campaigns influencers ran with advertisers rose 50% last year from 2021, according to influencer marketing firm CreatorIQ. However, as the economic downturn continues this year, it’s not yet clear how much the pullback in advertising spending will cut into influencer marketing deals.

Say what you will about Grey’s Anatomy, but the show has its fans – and music searchers, as end-of-year data from Tunefind (a Songtradr company) recently revealed. Grey’s Anatomy had 1% more music searches on Tunefind in 2022 than HBO hit Euphoria to continue its hot streak as the top show on the platform. However, Euphoria’s searches came from a wider range of viewers – 44% more uniques than Grey’s.