Wal-Mart Planning to Compete with Netflix

[Yowza]

https://arstechnica.com/information...o-streaming-service-to-battle-netflix-amazon/

Walmart may launch a video streaming service to battle Netflix, Amazon.

The retail giant wants to offer video streaming at a more accessible price point.

Walmart may be the next giant to enter the video streaming wars, according to a report from The Information. The retailer is reportedly considering launching its own video streaming service to battle Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. But Walmart wants to undercut its competition by pricing its service at $8 per month—or lower.

According to the report, the $8-per-month price comes from the idea that Netflix and Amazon are more popular with customers on the East and West Coasts. Customers living in the middle of America may gravitate toward a lower-cost option. Currently, Netflix prices its service between $8 and $14 per month, while Amazon Prime Video is roughly $8 per month.

Both services have seen price increases recently as well—Netflix raised the price of its top-tier 4K streaming plan by $2 and its mid-tier plan by $1 at the end of last year, while an Amazon Prime annual subscription jumped to $119 in May (Prime Video is included in a Prime membership).

The plan is still in the early stages, and Walmart may decide to scrap the idea entirely. But launching its own streaming service would place Walmart in direct competition with Netflix and heat up its battle with Amazon. Walmart may also consider a no-cost ad-supported service, which sounds much like what Roku has with the ad-supported channels it features across its streaming devices.

Walmart isn't totally new to video streaming—it already owns Vudu, a service for buying and renting movies. Vudu launched its own ad-supported streaming service, Movies on Us, a few years ago as well. But neither Movies on Us nor Vudu are anywhere near as popular as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, and Walmart likely wants to grab some of the eyeballs that Netflix and Amazon pull in every day.

It's unclear what content would populate Walmart's streaming service. Both Netflix and Amazon feature licensed content on their services, but all companies involved in the streaming wars are throwing piles of cash at original programming. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Apple all plan to spend billions in the coming years to produce original shows and movies, hoping new content will garner success similar to that of Netflix's Stranger Things, Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and others.

The news of Walmart's streaming ambitions comes as Netflix subscriber growth is appearing to slow. Although Netflix has 130 million subscribers globally, it missed its subscriber growth targets for the April-June timeframe by about one million.

Walmart's battle with Amazon for retail dominance continues to rage as well: Walmart recently signed a five-year agreement with Microsoft to use its cloud services across the company. Microsoft's cloud service is the biggest competitor to Amazon's AWS, and there are rumors that Microsoft could help Walmart even further. The retailer may test and implement cashierless technology created by Microsoft in its stores, which would eliminate the need for check-out lines. Amazon Go stores already use a similar technology, and Amazon plans to open more locations soon.

This may seem throw-away laughable at first but 2 things make this seem interesting:
1) Wal-Mart bought out VUDU not to long ago. Those familiar with it know that it's a great digital storage site for ultraviolet as well as Wal-Mart bought discs. It just started offering free streaming on select movies not too long ago and allows online streaming rentals for new releases similar to Redbox just not have to worry about returning anything. I wonder how this VUDU service would synch with a new streaming service?

2) While missing exclusive content provided by streaming kingpins like Netflix, this service may not be constantly trying to push it's own content over at the expense of overall selection.

Any Thoughts?

 

[Yowza]

I know it's Wal-Mart but doesn't it seem interesting to have a cloud type digital storage locker/non-studio owned movie rental place (as have now from Wal-Mart owned Vudu) to go along with a potential streaming service?

This could offer an entirely different product with a retailer getting involved as opposed to Studio or service mainly focusing on own original content.

Vudu's where it's at in numerous ways. They started offering few movies here and there to stream for free but an actual site dedicated to online streaming could work hand in hand with this.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Wal-Mart should call this service "The Wal-Mart Discount Bin."

 

[Iceman]

I don't really want 10 streaming services competing where you need to sign up to so many to access all the content you want.

 

[The Shape]

I know it's Wal-Mart but doesn't it seem interesting to have a cloud type digital storage locker/non-studio owned movie rental place (as have now from Wal-Mart owned Vudu) to go along with a potential streaming service?

This could offer an entirely different product with a retailer getting involved as opposed to Studio or service mainly focusing on own original content.

Vudu's where it's at in numerous ways. They started offering few movies here and there to stream for free but an actual site dedicated to online streaming could work hand in hand with this.

I love Vudu and I definitely use it to supplement other streaming services. Much better and complete selection of nearly every movie or TV series ever made, and it's pay as you go.

No interest in an actual streaming service from WalMart, though.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I don't really want 10 streaming services competing where you need to sign up to so many to access all the content you want.

This. Everyone says TV is dying, but think about it: TV started with like 3 channels. Here we are now, Netflix, Hulu, and maybe one or two other small services. But soon Disney, DC comics, Walmart. Now we have 6, 7, maybe 10 services. We're not at 1000 channels TV, but it'll still end up running you basically the price of cable if you want everything anyway.

 

[2kt09]

This. Everyone says TV is dying, but think about it: TV started with like 3 channels. Here we are now, Netflix, Hulu, and maybe one or two other small services. But soon Disney, DC comics, Walmart. Now we have 6, 7, maybe 10 services. We're not at 1000 channels TV, but it'll still end up running you basically the price of cable if you want everything anyway.

This would be another grab-bag of content rather than an exclusive specialty deluxe package. The article even states they're considering it for the purpose of appealing to people who would rather pay/could only afford less.

 

[Yowza]

This would be another grab-bag of content rather than an exclusive specialty deluxe package. The article even states they're considering it for the purpose of appealing to people who would rather pay/could only afford less.

Exactly.

The following investment based article supports this as well (am only quoting the section of article on following link pertaining to media initiative):
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/07/25/walmart-challenges-amazon-with-new-cloud-and-media.aspx

Making a move in streaming media
Amazon Prime Video is now the second-most-popular streaming video service in the U.S. It reached 26 million viewers in early 2017, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters. Prime Video is still smaller than Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), which had 56 million paid U.S. subscribers last quarter, but it's become an essential piece of the Prime ecosystem.
Amazon also offers Prime members a free music streaming service, Prime Music, along with a paid, ad-free version called Music Unlimited. Back in April, Amazon claimed that Music Unlimited had more than doubled its subscriber base over the preceding six months to the "tens of millions."

The growth of Amazon's streaming services threatens both Walmart and Netflix, since an all-in-one subscription plan for shopping, videos, and music can lock in a lot of consumers. It also prevents consumers from taking Walmart's digital efforts too seriously.

Walmart acquired a video streaming platform called Vudu back in 2010, but the service only rented and sold a la carte content like iTunes. It also functions as a digital locker for purchased content from other platforms like Disney's Movies Anywhere. Walmart sold Vudu streaming devices at its stores, then offered free digital versions of DVDs or Blu-rays purchased at Walmart stores on Vudu, but the platform never gained much steam.

However, Variety recently reported that Walmart could finally launch a streaming version of Vudu this year to challenge Prime Video and Netflix. The service will reportedly be cheaper than Prime and Netflix, at $8 per month, but it's unclear if Walmart will aggressively produce original content like Amazon and Netflix.

Vudu could have a tough time cracking the streaming video market, which is filled with plenty of rivals like Hulu and HBO Now. However, Walmart might bundle the service with product discounts or special delivery options -- which could finally help it disrupt Amazon's growing retail-media ecosystem.

If anything Wal-Mart may trigger an interesting response from other brick/mortar retailers as well as e-tailers trying to offer a more all-encombassing product not just another thing to subscribe to.





*As a somewhat offtopic sidenote: The beginning section of article (from weblink above) also offers an interesting read on the business side of things including e-commerce expansion (via acquisitions and investments Walmart has made), digital initiatives in partnership with microsoft, and even a link to an article discussing augmented/virtual reality shopping. While this the less relevant non-media orientated section of article; main takeaway if anything is this is an attempt to keep pace with other e-tailer giants while integrating this technological framework into their strong brick/mortar retailer presence.

 

[I'm Old Greg]

Peoplel should start living there lives instead of paying to live vicariously through entertainment.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Some people should stop thinking of the world as one grand conspiracy and not care what others do with their spare time.

 

[Iceman]

Peoplel should start living there lives instead of paying to live vicariously through entertainment.

I should travel to space and go back in time to take down the Dark Lord and his armies for real?

 

[Yowza]

There's been no real update to Wal-Mart starting up a subscription based VOD service similar to Netflix but is starting to gear up to compete with the likes of Amazon Prime if not Amazon itself as noted in the articles linked earlier in this thread.

That being said, VUDU (traditionally a transactional based VOD service otherwise known as TVOD) has gradually been growing a "movies on us" (AVOD or ad supported video on demand similar to Tubitv).

Monday, they just announced they're trying to expand on original content perhaps to build a library before entering into the SVOD market. They'll be partnering with MGM Studio early next year for an original TV show as well as Eko for some potential original interactive content in the near future.

Number of articles circulating around this week so just picked one referenced below:

Will Walmart's 'Mr. Mom' reboot help its streaming service?
When Walmart (WMT) announced Monday that its digital streaming service Vudu was making a push into original content through a partnership with MGM, there were some big question marks.

None was bigger, though, than the question of what the inaugural “Walmart-MGM” original was going to be. None was bigger, though, than the question of what the inaugural “Walmart-MGM” original was going to be.

After days of speculation culminating at the advertising expo NewFronts West, Vudu announced its first original to come from the new partnership will be a reimagined reboot of the 1983 Michael Keaton family comedy “Mr. Mom,” set to debut in the first quarter of. After days of speculation culminating at the advertising expo NewFronts West, Vudu announced its first original to come from the new partnership will be a reimagined reboot of the 1983 Michael Keaton family comedy “Mr. Mom,” set to debut in the first quarter of 2019.

Now the big question is whether or not Walmart will be be able to boost the performance of a streaming service that it purchased eight years ago. Indeed, Vudu has lagged behind the performance of its peers. " data-reactid="34" style="margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(38, 40, 42); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Walmart is teaming up with MGM to create original content for its Vudu streaming service, beginning with a reboot of the 1983 comedy “Mr. Mom.” Credit: TechCrunchNow the big question is whether or not Walmart will be be able to boost the performance of a streaming service that it purchased eight years ago. Indeed, Vudu has lagged behind the performance of its peers.

Among U.S. households that streamed video on a television at home in April, only 13% used Vudu compared to 73% watching Netflix (NFLX), 50% YouTube, 36% Hulu, and 28% Amazon (AMZN), according to comScore data originally reported by the Wall Street Journal.

As of July, Netflix said it will spend $8 billion a year on original and acquired content. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Video’s programming budget was over $4 billion. Vudu claims it has a different strategy. " data-reactid="79" style="margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(38, 40, 42); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As of July, Netflix said it will spend $8 billion a year on original and acquired content. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Video’s programming budget was over $4 billion. Vudu claims it has a different strategy.

“We are not going to be a studio. We are not going to have 300 or 400 originals,” Scott Blanksteen, Vudu’s vice president of product and ad-supported VOD, recently told Variety. " data-reactid="80" style="margin-bottom: 1em; color: rgb(38, 40, 42); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We are not going to be a studio. We are not going to have 300 or 400 originals,” Scott Blanksteen, Vudu’s vice president of product and ad-supported VOD, recently told Variety.


But the mere fact that they have taken a step in that direction signals a serious shift in thinking, and could help Vudu finally differentiate itself in a sea of streaming providers, according to CFRA Research analyst Tuna Amobi." data-reactid="85" style="margin-bottom: 1em;">But the mere fact that they have taken a step in that direction signals a serious shift in thinking, and could help Vudu finally differentiate itself in a sea of streaming providers, according to CFRA Research analyst Tuna Amobi.

“The playbook we’ve seen work has been one of creating compelling original shows to essentially complement the licensed shows,” Amobi told Yahoo Finance. “In some respects I think Vudu now is going to be riding on the work that these players have already shown: that the formula can be successful, and that it can help differentiate the brand.”" data-reactid="86" style="margin-bottom: 1em;">“The playbook we’ve seen work has been one of creating compelling original shows to essentially complement the licensed shows,” Amobi told Yahoo Finance. “In some respects I think Vudu now is going to be riding on the work that these players have already shown: that the formula can be successful, and that it can help differentiate the brand.”

As a Sidenote here are some helpful terms for understanding common acronyms associated with the ever changing economic/technological landscape pertaining to VOD I had to read up on cause I'm losing track:
*VOD, FVOD, SVOD, TVOD, AVOD, NVOD seen here: VOD, SVOD, FVOD, AVOD Etc

*Article pertaining to utilization of SVOD, TVOD, AVOD seen here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understand-svod-tvod-avod-terms-business-models-streaming-mads-kaysen

*NVOD example seen here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understand-svod-tvod-avod-terms-business-models-streaming-mads-kaysen
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understand-svod-tvod-avod-terms-business-models-streaming-mads-kaysen
*OTT (just general term not having due with type of VOD so much) seen here Over-the-top media services - Wikipedia

 

[Yowza]

In simple terms grab bag of stuff > studio specific stuff=retail oriented approach that leaves choice in the hands of the consumer not just picking a studio or a streaming service peddling their OWN premium content with no ability to filter things out based on quality or taste.

I don't know how I feel about Vudu featuring original content but can see a lot of value behind having a digital storage locker, TVOD type service for new releases or anything else like could find at an app store, some movies on us "AVOD" content, along with potential subscription based content in the future could create a wider array of choice as well as discounts that can go multiple ways.

This will hopefully make other OTT providers be a bit more user friendly once again as the entertainment industry continues to change.