How to Run UGC Ads on Walmart Connect in 2026

Walmart Connect is one of the most underused channels in retail media right now. While brands fight for position on Meta and TikTok, sellers on Walmart Marketplace are finding that running UGC ads on Walmart Connect puts their products in front of a massive, purchase-ready audience — with substantially less creative saturation than on social platforms. The platform supports sponsored video, display, and streaming placements, which means UGC-style content built for social can often be adapted here with a few targeted adjustments.

This guide covers exactly how to run UGC ads on Walmart Connect: which formats support video creative, how to set up your campaigns step by step, and what creative approach actually resonates with Walmart's shopper base.

What Walmart Connect Is and Who Should Use It

Walmart Connect is Walmart's retail media advertising platform, formerly known as Walmart Media Group. It lets brands and sellers run ads across Walmart.com, the Walmart app, and an extended offsite display and video network. The platform is most directly useful to brands selling on Walmart Marketplace or through Walmart's first-party supplier network, though some display and video formats are accessible to brands without a direct Walmart listing.

Walmart's audience skews toward practical, value-conscious shoppers who tend to research before committing to a purchase. That mindset makes UGC-style creative — product demos, honest review formats, and before/after angles — a strong fit, because it mirrors the trusted, peer-recommendation experience these buyers already rely on.

Ad Formats on Walmart Connect That Support UGC Video

Not every format on Walmart Connect suits video or UGC-style creative. Here is where they actually fit:

• Sponsored Videos — These appear in search results on Walmart.com and the Walmart app. Accepted formats include MP4 and MOV at a minimum resolution of 1280×720, with video length between 6 and 45 seconds. Short product demos and problem/solution hooks perform well here because the audience is already searching — intent is high before the ad even loads.
• Display with Video — Walmart's display network spans onsite banners and offsite placements, some of which support autoplay video. Short-form UGC content under 15 seconds typically outperforms longer brand films in these slots, where attention windows are narrow.
• Walmart DSP — For brands with larger budgets, Walmart's Demand-Side Platform provides programmatic access to video inventory across the web, including streaming TV and OTT. This is where longer UGC narratives of 15–30 seconds can run without the constraint of a search-result context.
• Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands — These rely on static or image-based creative by default, but UGC-style product photography — lifestyle shots that mimic a real person using the product in a natural setting — consistently outperforms polished studio imagery across most categories.

How to Set Up a UGC Ad Campaign on Walmart Connect

Access Walmart Connect at advertising.walmart.com. You will need either a Walmart Seller Center account for Marketplace sellers, or a supplier account for first-party brands. Self-serve access is available for Sponsored Products and some video formats; larger managed campaigns typically go through Walmart's sales team.

1. Set your objective. Walmart Connect structures campaigns around awareness, consideration, and conversion. UGC video maps best to consideration (driving product page visits) or conversion (driving add-to-cart behavior). Start with a conversion objective if the product already has Walmart search volume; use consideration for new or low-review launches.
2. Choose your targeting. Keyword targeting is available for Sponsored Products and Videos. Category targeting and audience targeting via the DSP are also options. For UGC campaigns aimed at cold audiences, problem-solution keyword phrases — "best [product type] for [use case]" — tend to outperform brand-term targeting.
3. Upload your creative. Video assets must meet the format specifications above. Critically, captions must be burned into your video file before upload — Walmart app placements frequently autoplay on mute, and on-screen text is how viewers follow the content when audio is off.
4. Set bids and daily budgets. Walmart Connect is generally less auction-competitive than Amazon Ads in most product categories. You can often reach efficient cost-per-click rates at lower bids than you would need for comparable Amazon Sponsored Video campaigns.
5. Review attributed sales weekly. Walmart Connect reports impressions, clicks, and attributed purchases. Focus on attributed sales — not click volume — when evaluating which UGC creative is earning its budget.

Creative Strategy for Walmart's Shopper Mindset

Walmart shoppers prioritize value, practicality, and proof. The most effective UGC angles reflect that directly:

• Product demos with a value frame. Show the product working and make it clear why it is worth the price. "Here is what you get" outperforms brand storytelling for this audience. Keep the hook in the first three seconds and use the rest of the video to deliver on the promise.
• Comparison angles. Side-by-side comparisons — your product versus the problem, or versus the old solution — answer the "why buy this?" question head-on. How to Make Comparison Video Ads with AI in 2026 covers the specific executions that work best across formats.
• Honest review format. UGC that mimics a real person talking to camera about their experience — even AI-generated creative that captures that energy authentically — fits the trust-oriented expectations Walmart shoppers bring to their research.
• Category-appropriate angles. Household, cleaning, and home goods dominate Walmart's bestseller categories. If you sell in those spaces, AI UGC Ads for Cleaning and Household Brands: 2026 Guide maps the specific hooks and formats that convert in this environment.

One production detail that directly affects performance: always burn captions into your video before uploading to Walmart Connect. Because most Walmart app placements autoplay on mute, viewers who do not tap to unmute still need to follow the content through text. How to Add Captions to UGC Video Ads for Silent Mobile covers the fastest workflow for doing this at scale without adding significant production time.

Testing and Iterating UGC Creative on Walmart Connect

Walmart Connect does not have built-in creative A/B testing. To compare creative performance effectively, run separate ad groups with different video assets, hold targeting and bidding constant across groups, and let campaigns run for at least seven to ten days before drawing conclusions. Evaluate on attributed purchases, not click-through rate.

The brands that sustain strong performance on Walmart Connect over time maintain a rotating creative library — fresh angles, seasonal variants, and different format lengths — rather than relying on a single hero video until performance drops. Build a UGC Ad Creative Library for Always-On Testing 2026 walks through how to structure that system so you always have a tested replacement ready before your current creative plateaus.

Scaling UGC Ad Production for Walmart Connect

The practical bottleneck most brands hit is production volume. Running UGC creative across Sponsored Video, Display, and DSP — while testing multiple angles and refreshing assets regularly — demands more video output than most small teams can source through individual creator partnerships alone.

This matters particularly for Walmart because the platform's shopper base is broader and more demographically diverse than a niche social audience. What resonates with a value-focused household buyer may not land for a younger category browser. Running more creative variants increases your surface area for finding what works across different segments without having to over-invest in any single execution before you have data.

If you are ready to build and ship UGC-style video and image creative for Walmart Connect — and every other platform — at scale without coordinating creators or managing production overhead, UGCClip turns your product into multi-format ad creative across placements and aspect ratios in minutes. Try it at ugcclip.app.