[ad_1]
Walmart announced Monday a partnership with US film studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer to create content for its video-on-demand service, Vudu, purchased by the retailer eight years ago.
Walmart sought to boost Vudu's monthly audience, which remains well below that of competitors like Netflix and Hulu, controlled by Walt Disney, Comcast and Twenty-First Century Fox.
The media had announced that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company was looking to launch a subscription-based video streaming service in order to compete with Netflix and get into the production of TV shows to attract customers.
Walmart is not considering such a move, Reuters sources told Reuters. The retailer, however, continues to look for options to strengthen its video-on-demand business and offers programs for customers outside the major cities.
Walmart and MGM will make the announcement at the NewFronts conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It will include the name of the first production under the partnership, which Walmart will license to MGM.
"As part of this partnership, MGM will create exclusive content based on its extensive library of intellectual property rights (IP), which will be premiered on the Vudu platform," spokesperson told Reuters. from Walmart, Justin Rushing.
The focus will be on family-friendly content that Walmart customers prefer, Rushing said.
The financial transactions of the transaction were not disclosed.
Licensed content is a profitable strategy at a time when the production of original content has become an expensive undertaking. In July, Netflix announced spending $ 8 billion a year on original and acquired content. Amazon.com's programming budget for Prime Video has grown to more than $ 4 billion, while US broadcaster HBO, owned by AT & T, has announced that it would spend 2, $ 7 billion this year.
Walmart acquired Vudu in 2010 to protect against the decline in in-store DVD sales. Walmart is betting that customers would continue to buy and rent movies and transfer their titles to a digital library, which Vudu would create and update for viewers.
But the video site has not posed a major problem to competitors who dominate the segment, even if it is preloaded or can be downloaded on millions of smart TVs and video game consoles.
Vudu offers 150,000 titles to buy or rent, while its free, advertising-supported streaming service, called Movies On Us, includes 5,000 movies and TV shows.
There are currently more than 200 video services that bypass cable providers and broadcast content directly to a television, laptop, phone, or game console. That's up 68 years ago five years ago, according to a market research firm, Parks Associates.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com. Comcast is also co-owner of Hulu.
Source link
