"Walmart Connect doesn't seem to want to just be seen by the market as the best retail media network anymore, but a top overall ad business. There are already indicators of this new posturing: Walmart has been aggressively pulling its ads business upstream with more off-site ad opportunities and conversational AI agents - à la Amazon Ads. Walmart's latest earnings call proves its efforts are working."
"Walmart Connect, its ads business, grew 41% in the U.S. as reported in Walmart's Q4 2025 earnings on Feb 19. That figure is up from its reported 33% growth in Q3. "Walmart has solidified itself as that viable option and...when you look at competitively how Amazon is performing, Walmart's performing is competitive in that space," said Preston Larson, CEO of Modifly media agency and chief media officer of CourtAvenue, Modifly's parent company."
Walmart Connect is repositioning from a retail media network toward becoming a leading overall advertising business. The ads business moved upstream with off-site ad opportunities and conversational AI agents. U.S. ad revenue grew 41% in Q4 2025, up from 33% in Q3, while the global ad business grew 46% to nearly $6.4 billion. Walmart launched ads in Sparky and formed partnerships with Google Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT for AI-powered shopping. Industry executives praised the strategic moves and openness to AI partnerships. Amazon's advertising reached $68 billion in 2025, with Amazon recently eclipsing Walmart in annual revenue.
Read at Digiday
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