
Smart TV maker Vizio has unveiled a new menu that collates live sports programming across channels and services.
The feature, called Vizio Sports Zone, aims to take the guesswork out of figuring out which channel or app is offering a live sporting event at any given time.
The launch of Vizio Sports Zone was first teased at an advertising conference earlier this year. Its debut on supported Vizio smart TVs is timed to coincide with the start of football, basketball and hockey season.
“Just in time for the exciting fall sports season, Vizio Sports Zone takes the Vizio home entertainment experience to the next level – making it easier for fans to find their favorite teams and the most exciting games each day directly on the TV,” said Steve Yum, the Group Vice President of Product Management at Vizio. “We’re thrilled to introduce this new feature to VIZIO Smart TV users.”
Accessible through Vizio’s smart TV home screen, the Vizio Sports Zone will organize live and upcoming events by sport, giving users a dedicated landing page to find the precise team or game they want to watch across supported broadcast channels, cable sports networks and sports-inclusive streaming services like Peacock, Fubo, CBS Sports, YouTube TV and ESPN Plus.
Supported franchises include the National Football League, NCAA college football, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball.
In addition to finding games from supported franchises, sports fans will be able to curate a customized schedule of events by adding teams or individual competitions to their watch list.
Vizio is hoping Sports Zone won’t just be a hit with sports fans — the company is aiming to attract more advertisers who might want to buy inventory against its sports menu, reaching fans who are looking for a service that might carry the channel or game they want to watch. Launching a dedicated sports menu gives Vizio greater ability to offer more advertising inventory to brands who want to reach sports fans, in addition to super-serving sports enthusiasts who might find the fractured nature of sports TV rights confusing.
“For brands, we present you with an instant connection to the sports fan, high-impact sponsorships and timely integrations, and the opportunity to align with the most-viewed moments in entertainment,” Vizio’s Director of Product Marketing Lucy Sutphin said at the Vizio New Front advertiser presentation earlier this year.
A bigger part of Vizio’s overall businesses is rooted in connected TV advertising, with that segment earning $169.4 million during its most-recent financial quarter. Vizio has around 19 million streaming TV users, and is in the process of selling itself to Walmart for $2.3 billion, with the transaction largely predicated on the future health of Vizio’s connected TV advertising business.