Walmart Connect is expanding the reach of its retail media business beyond its own platforms, allowing advertisers to access Walmart audiences though a new partnership with Yahoo DSP and Magnite. The move aims to simplify programmatic buying while extending Walmart’s commerce data into connected television and other offsite media environments.
The initiative, announced this week by Ryan Mayward, general manager and senior vice president of Walmart Connect, allows advertisers to activate Walmart audiences and access closed-loop measurement through demand-side platforms they already use rather than requiring them to buy exclusively through Walmart’s own tools.
The first launch partner is Yahoo DSP, with inventory initially available through VIZIO and Magnite. Walmart said additional integrations and capabilities are planned.
“Today, we are announcing a more flexible approach to buying offsite retail media, making Walmart Connect’s audiences and measurement more accessible across the media landscape,” Mayward wrote in a company blog post.
The announcement comes as Walmart’s advertising business continues to grow faster than the retailer’s core operations.
In its fiscal first quarter, Walmart reported global advertising revenue rose 37% from a year earlier, with growth across all segments. Walmart U.S. advertising revenue increased 36%, significantly outpacing the company’s overall revenue growth of 7.3% to $177.8 billion.
In the nearby video interview from CES in Las Vegas earlier this year, Mayward shares details about its retail media strategy with Beet.TV.
Retail media moves beyond closed ecosystems
Retail media networks have become one of the fastest-growing segments of digital advertising, but marketers have often faced operational hurdles when trying to use retailer data outside of the retailer’s own properties.
Walmart’s latest effort seeks to address that challenge by allowing advertisers to use Walmart audience data within existing programmatic workflows while maintaining Walmart-controlled data governance and measurement capabilities. According to the company, Magnite’s technology will support audience decisioning across multiple demand-side platforms while preserving access to Walmart’s first-party data.
The company said the approach can help advertisers connect media exposure directly to sales outcomes at Walmart stores and online. Walmart cited internal data showing that offsite display campaigns delivered a median 52% rate of new-to-brand customers in 2025.
“Advertisers are looking for simpler ways to activate high-quality data across their programmatic investments,” Adam Roodman, general manager of Yahoo DSP, said in a statement included in the blog.
Connecting shopper marketing and national media
The expansion also reflects a broader trend in advertising as retailers, media companies and technology platforms seek to bridge the gap between brand-building campaigns and sales measurement.
Walmart said making its audiences, signals and measurement tools available across more buying environments can help advertisers evaluate performance from awareness through conversion while expanding the role of connected television in commerce-focused advertising.
Mayward framed the effort as a way to help advertisers navigate a fragmented media landscape while improving efficiency.
“At Walmart Connect, we’re bringing the precision of retail data for audience targeting and measurement into advertisers’ existing media mix, making it easier to extend reach, build consideration and measure performance without adding operational complexity,” he wrote. “The result is a more streamlined experience that helps advertisers use media spend more efficiently.”
The initiative is currently operating in a closed proof-of-concept phase and is expected to become more broadly available at a later date, according to Walmart.
