• by Wayne Friedman , March 16, 2021

Smart TV set manufacturer Vizio says all its advertising business -- inventory sales, data licensing and other related services through its Platform+ unit -- witnessed rapidly growing revenue in 2020, hitting $147.2 million.

Revenue more than doubled from 2019 -- which was $63.2 million. Results were from a recent SEC filing for Vizio in preparation for its initial public offering.

Vizio says all Platform+ revenue comes through advertising sales, data licensing through its Inscape unit, sales of branded buttons on TV remote controls and content distribution.

Advertising revenues include digital ad inventory on its WatchFree platform -- Vizio free channels -- as well as on its home screen.

Vizio gets ad inventory through agreements with content providers and third parties. Vizio also resells video inventory purchased from content providers and directly sells third-party inventory on a revenue-share basis.

Vizio says potential Platform+ growth is linked to metrics for its smart TV operating system SmartCast, SmartCast active accounts, SmartCast usage hours and SmartCast average revenue per user results.

Vizio’s device revenue -- which virtually comes from sales of smart TV sets -- recorded $1.9 billion in 2020 versus $1.8 billion in 2019. Overall companywide net income more than tripled in 2020 to $102.5 million versus $23.1 million in 2019.