Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Is Walmart getting into the streaming race? It’s sure looking that way. According to The Information, Walmart is considering creating a streaming platform to compete with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video that would be targeted towards its customers in the middle of the country. Anonymous sources close to the retailer told The Information that Walmart is discussing various options to compete with its online-only rivals, including charging less for subscriptions or even rolling out a free, ad-supported platform. Decider reached out to Walmart for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
If Walmart enters the Wild Wild West of subscription streaming, its service will likely cost users $8 or less a month, sources said. This lower price point would be a huge draw for subscribers, as Netflix has raised its prices steadily over the last few years (the streamer is currently testing out a $16.99/month “Ultra” plan), and Amazon charges $8.99/month for a basic Prime Video subscription or $119/year for a new Prime membership. Anonymous Walmart executives believe that a lower-cost streaming plan would particularly appeal to customers in middle America: “Netflix and Amazon are seen as more popular with people on the East and West Coasts of the U.S., one of the [sources] said,” wrote The Information.
While it seems like Walmart will be the new kid on the streaming block, that actually isn’t the case: in 2010, the international retailer purchased Vudu, an on-demand video service. Vudu currently offers over 100,000 TV shows and movies, but few viewers look to the platform as their first choice. According to Comscore, an analytics service, users spent more than 897,000 hours watching Netflix and over 315,000 hours on Amazon Prime Video, but only 18,000 hours on Vudu during the month of May. Interestingly, Vudu is also a key partner in Movies Anywhere, a movie-storage service that boasts some of Walmart’s would-be streaming competitors, including Prime Video and iTunes, as co-partners.
Walmart may be losing the streaming battle right now, but with a new standalone service, maybe it can win the war.
