Walmart Connect is Walmart’s advertising business, the Walmart equivalent of Amazon Ads. It sells search ads on Walmart.com, display ads on and off Walmart’s sites, streaming TV ads and even ads on screens inside stores. It is growing quickly. Walmart’s global advertising business reached nearly $6.4 billion in its 2026 fiscal year, up 46%. In the quarter reported in August 2026, Walmart Connect in the US grew 43% excluding VIZIO.
Amazon’s ad business is still far bigger: Amazon reported $19.8 billion in ad revenue in a single quarter this year. That gap is the opportunity. Fewer brands compete on Walmart, and 83% of the top Walmart Marketplace sellers already advertise. This guide explains how Walmart advertising works in 2026 and how to bring an Amazon playbook over without breaking it.
Who Can Advertise on Walmart
- Marketplace sellers can run Sponsored Products as soon as they’re selling. There are no setup or monthly fees, and you pay per click.
- Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Videos are for brand owners or authorized representatives registered in Walmart Brand Portal.
- Suppliers, meaning first-party vendors, advertise through Walmart Connect with higher minimum budgets.
One rule catches Amazon sellers out: an item has to be published, in stock and winning the Buy Box for its ads to serve. If ads stop delivering, check the offer before the campaign.
Sponsored Search: Products, Brands and Videos
Sponsored Products are the core. They show individual items in search results and on product pages, and campaigns can use automatic or manual targeting.
- Manual campaigns target keywords with exact, phrase or broad match. You can have up to 1,000 keyword and match-type combinations per ad group.
- Negative keywords arrived in July 2026: negative exact and negative phrase now work on manual campaigns, and on automatic campaigns that use fixed bidding.
- Bidding is fixed by default. Dynamic bidding is optional.
Sponsored Brands show your logo and up to four products at the top of search results, on a cost-per-click basis. Walmart reports that 69% of Sponsored Brands orders come from new-to-brand customers. The minimum bid is $0.50.
Sponsored Videos run in search results. The minimum bid is also $0.50. Every campaign is reviewed by Walmart Connect, and captions are required.
Budgets: What a Realistic Test Costs
Walmart’s API documentation sets these minimums for Sponsored Products:
| Minimum total budget | Minimum daily budget | |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace sellers | $50 | $10 |
| Suppliers | $100 | $50 |
Unspent daily budget rolls over to the next day. Walmart recommends about $100 a day to start. For most Amazon brands the better question is how long a test needs to run to get enough clicks to judge. Plan for at least a few weeks on your best-selling items before you cut anything.
New sellers can also get $500 in Walmart Connect credits through Walmart’s New-Seller Savings program. Our Walmart Seller Center guide covers the full offer.
Beyond Search: Display, Offsite, TV and Stores
- Onsite display is available self-serve in the US to Brand Portal brand owners and authorized resellers, with contextual, behavioral and keyword targeting.
- Offsite and the DSP: Walmart built its demand-side platform with The Trade Desk, but that exclusivity ended in fall 2025. Walmart audiences are now also available through Yahoo DSP, Magnite and Google’s DV360 for YouTube.
- Streaming TV: Walmart bought VIZIO in December 2024 and is building VIZIO’s TV audience into Walmart Connect. In August 2026 it closed the purchase of Vibe.co, a self-serve streaming TV ad platform aimed at small and mid-size advertisers.
- In-store ads run on screens and audio in Walmart stores.
For most marketplace sellers, search ads are where the money should go first. Display and TV make sense once search is profitable and you want new customers at scale.
Measuring Results and Comparing With Amazon
Walmart’s biggest measurement advantage is closed-loop sales tracking across online and in-store purchases at about 4,600 stores. If your product also sells in Walmart stores, ads can get credit for store sales.
Be careful comparing return on ad spend with Amazon. Amazon’s Sponsored Products reporting uses a 7-day attribution window for sellers. Walmart reports offer different windows, and Walmart’s own Sponsored Brands figures use 14 days. A longer window credits more sales to the same ads. Before you compare, put both on the same window, or compare trends rather than raw numbers.
Walmart Connect vs. Amazon Ads
| Walmart Connect | Amazon Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can use it | Marketplace sellers and suppliers; Brand Portal for Sponsored Brands, Videos and display | Sellers and vendors; Brand Registry for Sponsored Brands and Display |
| Minimum daily budget (Sponsored Products) | $10 for sellers, $50 for suppliers | $1 |
| When ads serve | Item must be in stock and win the Buy Box | Offer must be the Featured Offer |
| Negative keywords | Exact and phrase, since July 2026 | Exact and phrase |
| Offline sales | Store sales tracked | Online only for most brands |
| Scale | About $6.4B in fiscal 2026 | $19.8B in one quarter of 2026 |
How to Bring Your Amazon Playbook to Walmart
- Fix the offer first. Content, price and stock decide whether ads serve at all. Keep your Walmart price in line with Amazon so you don’t lose the Featured Offer on either channel.
- Start with an automatic campaign on your top sellers to collect search terms. Walmart’s search terms differ from Amazon’s more than most brands expect.
- Move winning terms into manual campaigns with exact and phrase match, and add negatives to the automatic campaign as you go.
- Add Sponsored Brands once you’re registered in Brand Portal, to defend your brand name and reach new customers.
- Review weekly and compare with Amazon on matched attribution windows.
What’s New in 2026
- Negative keywords for Sponsored Products (July 2026)
- Marty, Walmart Connect’s AI assistant for bidding, keywords and billing, rolling out to Sponsored Search advertisers
- Ads in Sparky, Walmart’s shopping assistant, piloted in fall 2025 and expanding this year
- More DSP partners and the Vibe.co streaming TV platform
Walmart Advertising Questions, Answered
What Is Walmart Connect?
Walmart’s advertising business. It sells search, display, offsite, streaming TV and in-store ads, measured against Walmart’s online and store sales.
What’s the Minimum Budget for Walmart Ads?
For Marketplace sellers, Walmart’s API documentation sets Sponsored Products minimums of $10 a day and $50 in total. Suppliers need $50 a day and $100 in total.
Can Marketplace Sellers Run Sponsored Brands?
Yes, if they’re brand owners or authorized representatives registered in Walmart Brand Portal.
Does Walmart Still Use The Trade Desk?
Yes, but not exclusively. Since fall 2025, Walmart audiences are also available through Yahoo DSP, Magnite and Google DV360.
Why Aren’t My Walmart Ads Serving?
Check the offer first. Items need to be published, in stock and winning the Buy Box for ads to show.
Running Walmart ads well takes the same discipline as Amazon, with different data. Our paid media team runs Walmart Connect alongside Amazon PPC, so budgets move to whichever channel is earning. See our Walmart Marketplace management service, or book a strategy call.
Sources: Walmart, Q2 FY27 (August 20, 2026), Q1 FY27 (May 21, 2026) and Q4 FY26 (February 19, 2026) earnings releases; Walmart Connect solutions pages and “Negative keywords for Sponsored Products” (July 29, 2026); Walmart Advertising Partners API documentation; Walmart Marketplace sponsored search page; Walmart Marketplace Learn, onsite display guide (May 7, 2026); Walmart, “Walmart completes acquisition of Vibe.co” (August 4, 2026); Amazon Q2 2026 earnings coverage (July 30, 2026); Marketing Dive and Digiday coverage of Walmart’s DSP partners. Budgets and features change, so confirm current terms in Walmart Connect.
