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Vizio Files for IPO
Vizio filed its S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as the TV and soundbar maker heads toward an initial public offering. The filing reveals that Vizio has sold over 80 million TVs and 11 million soundbars since the company’s founding. It sold 7.1 million TVs in 2020. But the future is more so about software and platforms than it is about selling TVs, where the profit margins are often scant. Later in the filing, Vizio says: While we generate the significant majority of our total net revenue from sales of our Smart TVs and sound bars, our Platform+ net revenue has grown 304.4 percent from $36.4 million in 2018 to $147.2 million in 2020. We believe that Platform+ will be the key driver of our future margin growth and financial performance.
“Platform+” refers to a combination of SmartCast (the software that runs on Vizio’s TVs) and Inscape, which is Vizio’s data, analytics, and content recognition subsidiary. The S-1 points out that the company continues to see huge advertising potential from its ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services like WatchFree and Vizio Free Channel. It also sells ad space on the SmartCast home screen and gets a percentage of subscriptions and purchases made in third-party apps on its platform. Plus, Vizio charges streaming partners to put their logo on TV boxes or branded remote buttons. The company says there are currently over 12 million active SmartCast accounts. (Interestingly, Vizio also reveals there are 5.3 million internet-connected TVs still running its legacy software. Vizio tried to completely reinvent the TV experience in 2016 by removing all built-in apps from its first SmartCast TVs. Instead, the TVs relied on “casting” content from entertainment apps on mobile devices. The company also briefly ditched the traditional TV remote control and packaged an Android tablet with those TVs. Both of these grand experiments were reined in a few years later, with Vizio again bundling popular apps on its TV platform (while retaining the same casting features as before) and switching back to a normal remote.
Vizio filed its S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as the TV and soundbar maker heads toward an initial public offering. The filing reveals that Vizio has sold over 80 million TVs and 11 million soundbars since the company’s founding. It sold 7.1 million TVs in 2020. But the future is more so about software and platforms than it is about selling TVs, where the profit margins are often scant. Later in the filing, Vizio says: While we generate the significant majority of our total net revenue from sales of our Smart TVs and sound bars, our Platform+ net revenue has grown 304.4 percent from $36.4 million in 2018 to $147.2 million in 2020. We believe that Platform+ will be the key driver of our future margin growth and financial performance.
“Platform+” refers to a combination of SmartCast (the software that runs on Vizio’s TVs) and Inscape, which is Vizio’s data, analytics, and content recognition subsidiary. The S-1 points out that the company continues to see huge advertising potential from its ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services like WatchFree and Vizio Free Channel. It also sells ad space on the SmartCast home screen and gets a percentage of subscriptions and purchases made in third-party apps on its platform. Plus, Vizio charges streaming partners to put their logo on TV boxes or branded remote buttons. The company says there are currently over 12 million active SmartCast accounts. (Interestingly, Vizio also reveals there are 5.3 million internet-connected TVs still running its legacy software. Vizio tried to completely reinvent the TV experience in 2016 by removing all built-in apps from its first SmartCast TVs. Instead, the TVs relied on “casting” content from entertainment apps on mobile devices. The company also briefly ditched the traditional TV remote control and packaged an Android tablet with those TVs. Both of these grand experiments were reined in a few years later, with Vizio again bundling popular apps on its TV platform (while retaining the same casting features as before) and switching back to a normal remote.
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