VIZIO Holding Corp. develops high-performance Smart televisions ('Smart TVs'), sound bars, and accessories. These products are sold to retailers and through online channels throughout the United States.
Businesses
The company operates two distinct but fully integrated businesses: Device and Platform+.
Device
The company offers a range of high-performance Smart TVs designed to address specific consumer preferences, as well as a portfolio of sound bars that deliver immersive audio experiences....
VIZIO Holding Corp. develops high-performance Smart televisions ('Smart TVs'), sound bars, and accessories. These products are sold to retailers and through online channels throughout the United States.
Businesses
The company operates two distinct but fully integrated businesses: Device and Platform+.
Device
The company offers a range of high-performance Smart TVs designed to address specific consumer preferences, as well as a portfolio of sound bars that deliver immersive audio experiences. The company generates revenue from the shipment of these devices to retailers and distributors across the United States, as well as directly to consumers through the company's website, VIZIO.com.
The company's broad Smart TV portfolio is designed to target specific consumer segments and their preferences for high picture quality, powerful processing and video performance, smart capabilities, a wide variety of content, streamlined connectivity and a stylish, modern industrial design.
The company's broad collection of high-performance sound bars delivers the home theater experience with immersive sound, powerful performance and modern designs optimized to fit the user's room and television size. The company's sound bars are voice assistant ready and include Bluetooth to allow consumers to easily pair and stream music by voice command or from their mobile device or personal computer, and every sound bar includes clear, quick-start instructions, mounting guides and common cables necessary for set-up, improving the out-of-box experience and reducing support calls.
Platform+
Platform+ is consisted of SmartCast, the company's Smart TV operating system, that enables its fully integrated entertainment solution, and Inscape, which powers the company's data intelligence and services.
SmartCast delivers a compelling array of content and applications through an elegant and easy-to-use interface. It supports many of the leading streaming apps, such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube TV; and hosts the company's own free, ad-supported app, WatchFree+. SmartCast also supports Apple AirPlay 2 and Chromecast functionalities to allow users to stream additional content from their other devices to the company's Smart TVs. It provides broad support for third-party voice platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Voice Assistant, as well as second screen viewing to offer additional interactive features and experiences.
Inscape is the company's ACR technology which is able to identify the content displayed on the screen of the company's Smart TVs, tracking viewing data, regardless of input source. The company aggregates this data to increase transparency and enhance targeting abilities for the company's advertisers, while adhering to the company's strict consumer privacy policies. The data the company collects allows the company to monetize its own ad inventory and provides the potential for a better user experience through more relevant advertisements and content recommendations. The company also licenses a portion of this data to measurement companies, advertising agencies and other media and ad-tech companies.
The VIZIO Value Proposition
Consumers
For consumers, the company delivers a premium and interactive entertainment experience at an affordable price. The company offers a large portfolio of Smart TVs and sound bars ranging in size, features and price to generate broad market appeal. The company's SmartCast operating system provides many of the leading streaming apps and, by aggregating consumer viewing data, offers personalized recommendations through an easy-to-use interface. Together, the company's Smart TVs and SmartCast operating system create an immersive and individualized entertainment experience.
Retailers
For retailers, the company provides quality, affordable and competitive products that attract consumers across a broad range of demographics, drawing additional consumers to these retailers and helping grow their revenue. The company supports these retailers with a dedicated and experienced sales management team, who work with retailers to ensure a joint business strategy, cross promotions and shelf space optimization.
Content Providers
For content providers, the company's large base of Smart TVs that are in millions of homes across the United States provides an additional avenue to increase viewership and subscriptions. SmartCast enables them to reach a growing audience that is shifting away from Linear TV. VIZIO Account provides consumers with a centralized payment and subscription management system that allows for a seamless way to subscribe to streaming services. The company facilitates a win-win relationship with its content providers by acting as another distribution channel for their content. The company's WatchFree+ provides an avenue for content providers to gain additional viewership and increase monetization opportunities. Additionally, the company's homepage serves as valuable real estate for content providers to promote new shows in order to drive engagement on their platforms.
Advertisers
For advertisers, the company offers truly incremental reach to Linear TV advertising, as many VIZIO consumers either do not connect a cable or satellite box to their Smart TVs, or supplement their Linear TV viewing with streaming content. Additionally, the company's ACR and DAI capabilities allow for more targeted advertising, including for those consumers who view Linear TV on the company's Smart TVs. The combination of the company's significant reach, ability to target ads and data insights improve advertisers' return on investment.
Technology
The company is focused on providing the best consumer experience and powerful solutions for content providers and advertisers to reach a broad and engaged audience. The company has developed an array of technologies that seamlessly integrate the company's hardware and software. The company's integrated offerings allow the company to provide exceptional value for consumers, retailers, content providers and advertisers.
SmartCast
The company's application experiences are powered by a vast media library brought together by the SmartCast operating system. Through feed ingestion, content matching and metadata merging services, the SmartCast home page aggregates content from major third-party OTT apps and the company's free, ad-supported streaming service, WatchFree+, to enable a content-centric user experience. SmartCast then leverages user data and behavior to optimize recommendations and search results using AI.
Automatic Content Recognition
The company offers a cutting edge, screen-embedded ACR technology that increases transparency and enhances targeting abilities for advertisers on the company's platform. The company also licenses its data to measurement companies, advertising agencies, media and ad tech companies. The company's ACR technology leverages viewing data from millions of VIZIO Smart TVs to help content providers and advertisers understand their audiences.
Hardware and Chipsets
The company's approach to picture quality, including the company's use of advanced design and its own algorithms, creates high-quality panels and gives the company a competitive advantage in the market when it comes to user experience. The company continues to invest in these technologies that power the company's high-performing TV picture quality, including product design and specifications of LCD Panels, LED backlights, chipsets, software and Quantum Dot Films.
Manufacturing, Logistics and Fulfillment
While all of the company's products are designed in California, the company outsources manufacturing to a diversified base of manufacturers including BOE, Foxconn, Innolux, KIE, Tonly, TPV and Zylux, which purchase components and assemble the company's Smart TVs, sound bars and other entertainment products in facilities in China, Mexico, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The parts for the company's products are procured directly by the company's manufacturers. The company utilizes its business planning team to obtain competitive pricing on certain components, and the company leverage the company's manufacturers' volume purchases for best pricing on common parts. Televisions, sound bars and accessories are typically manufactured and packaged for retail sale and shipped via ocean freighter from the company's manufacturers in Asia and by trucks from the company's manufacturers in Mexico to logistics hubs. From the hubs, the company's devices are shipped using its logistics network of hubs and carriers to more than 250 destinations. The company typically takes ownership of the products directly from these logistics hubs, and the company's logistics team manages this process as the company delivers the products to its retailers. The company utilizes a vendor-managed inventory strategy that allows the company to reduce costs across the supply chain and improve inventory flexibility.
Distribution and Marketing of the company's Smart TVs and Sound Bars
While the company sells to large and small retailers across the United States and directly to consumers through the company's website, the company has historically focused on the large-scale distribution channels to drive the most efficient economies of scale and accelerate the company's market share.
The company's marketing programs focus on engaging the wide spectrum of consumers from first-time shoppers to premium home theater enthusiasts, and leverage traditional advertising, high-impact sponsorships, and public relations, as well as more innovative digital marketing, social media, and retail marketing strategies that drive consideration and purchase.
The company's in-store retail merchandising strategy focuses on engaging consumers with point of purchase displays that showcase the picture and audio quality of the company's products and explain the benefits of the company's Smart TVs' smart capabilities, technologies and features. The company's merchandising strategy helps streamline the final purchase decision with simple, consistent messaging at the point of sale, including packaging, fact tags, and other item level signage. The company's merchandising programs are designed to target the key demographics of the shoppers in each channel and are optimized for effective deployment and compliance with retailers' operations, from mass market to warehouse club to premium electronics retail environments.
Intellectual Property
The company owns and utilizes the trade name 'VIZIO' and the VIZIO logo and trademark on all of the company's products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned 572 active trademark registrations and applications throughout the world, including 47 active trademark registrations and applications in the United States.
As of December 31, 2023, the company owned 374 issued patents and 79 pending, allowed or published but not yet issued patent applications in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The company's issued U.S. patents will expire between 2025 and 2042.
Competition
The company's Smart TVs face competition from large consumer electronics brands, such as Amazon, Samsung, Sony, LG, Hisense, TCL and Onn, Walmart's private-label brand. The company's sound bars face competition from large consumer electronics brands, such as Samsung, Sony, LG, Bose, Sonos and Onn.
The company's principal competitors include Samsung, LG, TCL, and Hisense. The company faces sound bar competition from large consumer electronics brands such as Samsung, Sony, LG, Bose, Sonos and Onn.
The company competes against other television brands with Smart TV offerings, such as Samsung and LG, as well as other connected devices or operating systems, such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Apple TV. The company competes for advertising spend with these competitors, as well as with OTT streaming services and content providers, such as Hulu, YouTube TV and Max. Additionally, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have launched ad supported tiers, which has further increased competition. The company competes with these devices and services in part on the basis of user experience and content availability.
The company faces increased competition from a growing number of platforms, devices and content providers including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon and Google that provide broadband delivered digital content directly to a consumer's television or mobile phone, including through casting technology or connected devices such as Amazon's Fire TV Stick or Google's Chromecast.
In addition, the company faces competition from traditional cable providers and other television brands with Smart TV offerings, such as Samsung and from other forms of content and entertainment, such as social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram that consumers are more likely to engage with on their mobile phones, decreasing the time they spend watching television.
Government Oversight, Regulation and Privacy Practices
In February 2017, the company stipulated to the entry of a judgment in federal district court with, and paid certain penalties to, the Federal Trade Commission, the New Jersey Attorney General and Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs to settle alleged violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (the Order). The Order requires the company to provide additional notices (separate and apart from the company's privacy policies) to consumers when the company's devices are collecting information about what consumers are watching on the company's devices (viewing data).
Aspects of the CCPA, the CPRA and other laws and regulations relating to data protection, privacy, and information security, as well as their enforcement, continue to evolve, and the company has been required to modify the company's practices in an effort to comply with them.
Research and Development
The company's research and development costs were $41.3 million in 2023.
History
The company was founded in 2002. It was incorporated in 2002 as VIZIO, Inc., a California corporation. The company was reincorporated in Delaware in March 2021 as VIZIO Holding Corp.
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