CTV’s Future Is Shopping, Scale and a Little AI Magic: Vizio’s Adam Bergman
The biggest screen in the house has dominated advertising for generations. Now Vizio wants to turn that screen into something more: a storefront, a data platform and a gateway to measurable outcomes.
That is the vision Adam Bergman, group vice president of advertising and data sales at the consumer electronics company, is pursuing as the smart TV maker deepens its ties with Walmart and pushes further into connected TV advertising.
Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan, Bergman said scale remains the starting point for any platform hoping to compete for major ad budgets.
“To win budgets at scale, you have to have scale,” Bergman said.
Vizio asserts it is well positioned to deliver that scale. Bergman noted that the company benefits from Walmart’s television sales strength and from deploying its operating system on Walmart’s Onn televisions. As a result, Vizio currently reaches between 20% and 30% of U.S. households and expects further growth as its footprint expands.
The company’s goal is ambitious. Bergman said Vizio is on pace to become the nation’s top-selling television operating system by early 2027.
Premium means whatever advertisers want it to mean
The advertising industry loves the word “premium” almost as much as it loves inventing new definitions for it.
Bergman acknowledged that premium inventory means different things to different marketers.
“Premium supply, to me is in the eye of the beholder,” he said.
Some advertisers focus on content quality and brand-safe environments. Others care more about reaching highly specific audiences based on viewing habits or purchase behavior.
Vizio can play both sides of that equation. Bergman pointed to WatchFree+, the company’s free streaming service, which he said is the most-used free ad-supported app on the platform and the third most-used app overall. At the same time, Vizio’s data capabilities allow marketers to target viewers based on a wide range of behavioral signals.
In other words, one advertiser wants prestige television. Another wants dog owners who buy organic treats and watch home renovation shows. Vizio would like to help both.
Outcomes era has arrived, but apparently it arrived years ago
Advertisers today talk constantly about outcomes. Reach is nice. Impressions are nice. Click-through rates look great in PowerPoint decks. But eventually someone in the room asks whether any products actually sold.
Bergman’s response is that Vizio has been operating in an outcomes-driven world for years.
“We’ve been living the outcomes era for quite some time,” he said.
A major reason is Inscape, Vizio’s television viewership data business. The platform has become an important source of measurement data across traditional and streaming television.
The company’s focus on outcomes extends across categories. Entertainment companies want subscribers and viewers. Movie studios want ticket sales. Retailers want purchases. Auto companies want shoppers to visit dealerships.
One recent example is a partnership with Fandango that helps movie studios connect streaming ad exposure with actual ticket purchases.
“We’re helping movie studios validate the connectivity of streaming ads, streaming placements to ticket purchases,” Bergman said.
That focus has evolved alongside the streaming marketplace. A few years ago advertisers wanted to understand how streaming added incremental reach beyond linear television. Today the challenge is understanding incremental reach across an increasingly crowded universe of premium streaming services.
Television wants to become a shopping mall
The television industry has spent decades training viewers to sit still. Now it wants them to shop.
Bergman said Vizio has long viewed television as a shopping experience, although historically consumers were shopping for content rather than products.
“We have always thought of the television screen as a shopping experience,” he said.
The Walmart relationship creates an opportunity to extend that concept into retail media. Instead of helping viewers find a movie or streaming subscription, television could eventually help drive purchases of products sitting on Walmart shelves.
Vizio is already experimenting with QR codes and exploring ways to connect television exposure with mobile commerce.
“What does add to cart look like?” Bergman asked.
That question increasingly sits at the center of the retail media industry’s ambitions. The dream is straightforward: inspire consumers on the television screen, guide them to their smartphones and ultimately send them to checkout before they become distracted by cat videos.
AI’s job is to help you find something worth watching
No advertising interview in 2026 would be complete without mentioning artificial intelligence. Fortunately, Bergman appears determined to keep at least some of the discussion grounded in reality.
On the consumer side, Vizio is focused on using AI to improve content discovery through natural-language interactions.
“How do we really think about natural language?” Bergman said while describing future voice-driven search capabilities.
The goal is simple. Instead of forcing viewers to navigate endless menus, AI could help them find a movie, show or actor more quickly.
“Our job is to get you to a great piece of content as quickly as possible,” he said.
Behind the scenes, Vizio is also using AI tools to help build audiences, accelerate reporting and enhance its Inscape measurement business.
The next frontier may be creative optimization. Bergman said the company is exploring how AI can help improve ad messaging and creative versioning, particularly on the smart TV home screen.
Business result still matters
For all the excitement surrounding AI, retail media and streaming innovation, Bergman ultimately returns to a surprisingly old-fashioned idea.
Advertising should help businesses achieve business goals.
“We want to ensure that your media is pushing towards a business goal,” he said.
That may sound obvious. Yet Bergman suggested the industry sometimes becomes overly focused on media metrics while losing sight of what advertisers actually want.
“Products wanna move off the shelf, cars have to come off the lot,” he said. “We wanna drive customers into a restaurant.”
In an industry increasingly crowded with dashboards, attribution models and acronyms that require their own glossary, that may be the simplest outcome of all.
The biggest screen in the house has dominated advertising for generations. Now Vizio wants to turn that screen into something more: a storefront, a data platform and a gateway to measurable outcomes.
That is the vision Adam Bergman, group vice president of advertising and data sales at the consumer electronics company, is pursuing as the smart TV maker deepens its ties with Walmart and pushes further into connected TV advertising.
Speaking with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan, Bergman said scale remains the starting point for any platform hoping to compete for major ad budgets.
“To win budgets at scale, you have to have scale,” Bergman said.
Vizio asserts it is well positioned to deliver that scale. Bergman noted that the company benefits from Walmart’s television sales strength and from deploying its operating system on Walmart’s Onn televisions. As a result, Vizio currently reaches between 20% and 30% of U.S. households and expects further growth as its footprint expands.
The company’s goal is ambitious. Bergman said Vizio is on pace to become the nation’s top-selling television operating system by early 2027.
Premium means whatever advertisers want it to mean
The advertising industry loves the word “premium” almost as much as it loves inventing new definitions for it.
Bergman acknowledged that premium inventory means different things to different marketers.
“Premium supply, to me is in the eye of the beholder,” he said.
Some advertisers focus on content quality and brand-safe environments. Others care more about reaching highly specific audiences based on viewing habits or purchase behavior.
Vizio can play both sides of that equation. Bergman pointed to WatchFree+, the company’s free streaming service, which he said is the most-used free ad-supported app on the platform and the third most-used app overall. At the same time, Vizio’s data capabilities allow marketers to target viewers based on a wide range of behavioral signals.
In other words, one advertiser wants prestige television. Another wants dog owners who buy organic treats and watch home renovation shows. Vizio would like to help both.
Outcomes era has arrived, but apparently it arrived years ago
Advertisers today talk constantly about outcomes. Reach is nice. Impressions are nice. Click-through rates look great in PowerPoint decks. But eventually someone in the room asks whether any products actually sold.
Bergman’s response is that Vizio has been operating in an outcomes-driven world for years.
“We’ve been living the outcomes era for quite some time,” he said.
A major reason is Inscape, Vizio’s television viewership data business. The platform has become an important source of measurement data across traditional and streaming television.
The company’s focus on outcomes extends across categories. Entertainment companies want subscribers and viewers. Movie studios want ticket sales. Retailers want purchases. Auto companies want shoppers to visit dealerships.
One recent example is a partnership with Fandango that helps movie studios connect streaming ad exposure with actual ticket purchases.
“We’re helping movie studios validate the connectivity of streaming ads, streaming placements to ticket purchases,” Bergman said.
That focus has evolved alongside the streaming marketplace. A few years ago advertisers wanted to understand how streaming added incremental reach beyond linear television. Today the challenge is understanding incremental reach across an increasingly crowded universe of premium streaming services.
Television wants to become a shopping mall
The television industry has spent decades training viewers to sit still. Now it wants them to shop.
Bergman said Vizio has long viewed television as a shopping experience, although historically consumers were shopping for content rather than products.
“We have always thought of the television screen as a shopping experience,” he said.
The Walmart relationship creates an opportunity to extend that concept into retail media. Instead of helping viewers find a movie or streaming subscription, television could eventually help drive purchases of products sitting on Walmart shelves.
Vizio is already experimenting with QR codes and exploring ways to connect television exposure with mobile commerce.
“What does add to cart look like?” Bergman asked.
That question increasingly sits at the center of the retail media industry’s ambitions. The dream is straightforward: inspire consumers on the television screen, guide them to their smartphones and ultimately send them to checkout before they become distracted by cat videos.
AI’s job is to help you find something worth watching
No advertising interview in 2026 would be complete without mentioning artificial intelligence. Fortunately, Bergman appears determined to keep at least some of the discussion grounded in reality.
On the consumer side, Vizio is focused on using AI to improve content discovery through natural-language interactions.
“How do we really think about natural language?” Bergman said while describing future voice-driven search capabilities.
The goal is simple. Instead of forcing viewers to navigate endless menus, AI could help them find a movie, show or actor more quickly.
“Our job is to get you to a great piece of content as quickly as possible,” he said.
Behind the scenes, Vizio is also using AI tools to help build audiences, accelerate reporting and enhance its Inscape measurement business.
The next frontier may be creative optimization. Bergman said the company is exploring how AI can help improve ad messaging and creative versioning, particularly on the smart TV home screen.
Business result still matters
For all the excitement surrounding AI, retail media and streaming innovation, Bergman ultimately returns to a surprisingly old-fashioned idea.
Advertising should help businesses achieve business goals.
“We want to ensure that your media is pushing towards a business goal,” he said.
That may sound obvious. Yet Bergman suggested the industry sometimes becomes overly focused on media metrics while losing sight of what advertisers actually want.
“Products wanna move off the shelf, cars have to come off the lot,” he said. “We wanna drive customers into a restaurant.”
In an industry increasingly crowded with dashboards, attribution models and acronyms that require their own glossary, that may be the simplest outcome of all.
