Walmart and Amazon Projected to Control Nearly Half of TV OS Market by 2029

Retailers like Walmart and Amazon are on track to control nearly half of the North American TV operating system market by 2029, according to a new forecast from Omdia. The strategic pivot prioritizes lucrative e-commerce and advertising revenue over the slim margins of hardware sales, fundamentally changing the purpose of the screen in your living room.

• The retail takeover: The Omdia report projects retailers' market share will surge from 27% in 2025 to nearly 50% by 2029. Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio is supercharging its CastOS platform, which is projected to reach nearly 15 million units, while Amazon’s Fire TV is expected to hit nearly 9 million. Together, the two giants are on track to command a combined 24 million units in a 50 million-unit market.

• From screen to store: The industry’s retail-led future was on full display at CES 2026, where the television evolved from a simple screen into a hub for commerce and services. Hisense, for instance, is rebranding its VIDAA OS to "V Home OS" and partnering with Microsoft to embed Copilot AI, with Omdia’s Patrick Horner noting the goal is to become a "shopping portal.”

• Just ask your TV: Google is also embedding its Gemini AI into Google TV, rolling out interactive shoppable videos that create "direct paths" from discovery to checkout. As Horner explained, this enables conversational shopping where a viewer could ask, “Where can I buy those sneakers?” and the TV can identify the brand and provide a direct path to purchase.

The television is no longer a passive device for content consumption. It is rapidly becoming an active, AI-powered sales channel designed to turn viewing into buying, blurring the lines between entertainment and e-commerce.