VIZIO, Inc., America's leading Smart TV company, today announced the launch of VIZIO Ads, a new business unit created to provide better advertising experiences to consumers and brands alike.

The new business will enable brands, agencies and advertisers to purchase premium TV ad inventory across the VIZIO SmartCastTM platform, including within the launch and discovery environment, partner OTT apps, and throughout VIZIO's popular WatchFree™ service.

"One of the best ways to improve the TV viewing experience is to improve the state of TV advertising," said VIZIO founder and CEO William Wang. "The launch of direct advertising across our TV platform isn't just good business for us, it's an investment we're making to help the industry at large and will benefit the most important part of our business, the viewer at home."

As part of the formation of the new direct advertising business, VIZIO is opening a New York City office led by advertising veteran Mike O'Donnell who will oversee a team with people across the country.

The connected TV (CTV) advertising market is expected to surpass $7 billion in 2019, exceeding analyst expectations. VIZIO Ads is poised to capitalize on this trend as one of the few connected TV companies with the device penetration, consumer opt-in and infrastructure to deliver meaningful scale.

"As viewing behaviors shift and the marketplace for connected TV advertising explodes, brands need to find new ways to reach audiences on the biggest screen in the house," said Mike O'Donnell, SVP of VIZIO's Platform Business. "A direct-to-TV advertising business not only helps brands find new, more relevant ways to engage with viewers, it gives them peace of mind knowing their OTT ad budget is actually making it to the screen of a TV."

VIZIO Ads will take an open platform approach to its premium video inventory business, ensuring any media owner or advertiser can work with and leverage the systems they're already accustomed to using. The company offers a unique combination of premium inventory combined with direct publisher relationships, resulting in tier one targeted TV inventory being sold with app-level transparency for advertisers.

VIZIO Ads will continue the work of bringing increased transparency to the TV market by working closely with Inscape, the TV data company and subsidiary of VIZIO that provides near real-time viewing data to media companies, agency holding companies and measurement firms.

The VIZIO Ads team is actively seeking partners to round out its VIZIO Ads partner ecosystem, and interested parties can reach out here: www.vizioads.com.

About VIZIO Ads

The VIZIO Ads mission is to deliver a more relevant TV advertising experience to consumers and brands alike. Offering premium, addressable advertising inventory inside of WatchFree, SmartCast and within popular TV apps, VIZIO Ads delivers advertisers the ability to reach new audiences with relevant messages at the right time. VIZIO Ads gives its customers personable service, app-level transparency and screen-level verification to ensure brands can invest with confidence across one of the largest Smart TV footprints in the U.S. Learn more here: www.vizioads.com.

About VIZIO 

VIZIO's mission is to deliver the ultimate entertainment experience to our community of connected consumers. Through our connected entertainment platform, VIZIO is transforming the way consumers discover and experience content. Since our founding in California in 2002, VIZIO has built an industry-leading brand of products, including televisions, sound bars and other devices. VIZIO is a leading HDTV company, the #1 Sound Bar Brand in America and America's Fastest Growing Sound Bar Brand with Dolby Atmos. VIZIO product leadership is highlighted by a number of industry reviews and awards. The 2019 P-Series Quantum X received a Best of CES 2019 award from both CNET and Digital Trends and has earned Editors' Choice awards from Digital Trends, and USAToday's Reviewed.com. IGN called the 2019 P-Series Quantum "Stunning", giving it a 9.3/10 rating while HighDefDigest awarded it an Editors' Choice. The 2019 M-Series Quantum TVs have earned Editors' Choice awards from USAToday's Reviewed.com and Tom's Guide. VIZIO's top of the line Home Theater Sound System with Dolby Atmos, the SB46514-F6 has been named "The Best Sound Bar" by Wirecutter, "Best Sound Bar for 2019" by Digital Trends and awarded an Editors' Choice by HighDefDigest. The SB36514-G6 sound bar system received an Editors' Choice from Digital Trends, while CNET described the SB36512-F6 Sound System as "Excellent", awarding it 4 out of 5 stars and an Editors' Choice Award. The SB3621n-G8 sound bar is a Digital Trends Recommended Product for 2019 and Wirecutter named VIZIO's SB3651 surround sound bar their "Best Budget Pick".

For more information, please call 888-VIZIOCE or visit www.VIZIO.com.