Walmart advertising revenue reaches 6.4 billion in fiscal 2026 up 46 percent
Walmart's $WMT ad business hit nearly $6.4B in fiscal 2026, up 46%, per The Information and AdExchanger. That tops Snap's $SNAP full-year ad revenue and trails only Amazon $AMZN in US retail media. Ads are becoming a higher-margin profit engine for the retailer.
Walmart $WMT is not usually thought of as an advertising company, but its ad business is now big enough to rival pure-play tech platforms. The retailer's global advertising revenue reached nearly $6.4 billion in fiscal 2026, up about 46 percent for the year, according to The Information with reporting from AdExchanger and Marketing Dive. That figure now exceeds Snap's $SNAP full-year ad revenue and makes Walmart the second-largest retail media network in the United States, trailing only Amazon $AMZN and its far larger ad operation. The mechanics are straightforward: Walmart sells ads against the enormous volume of shoppers browsing its site and app, and those ads carry much higher margins than selling groceries or electronics. Walmart Connect, its US platform, grew 41 percent in the most recent quarter excluding Vizio, the TV maker it acquired to extend into connected-TV advertising. Why this matters: retail media is quietly reshaping how big retailers make money. The ad business is becoming a core profit engine rather than a side project, which helps explain why Walmart has been acquiring companies to strengthen it. For brands, it means more of their ad budgets are flowing to retailers who can tie spending directly to sales, a shift that pulls dollars away from traditional social and search platforms.