Home industry retail Walmart scraps new video streaming platform to focus on Vudu

Walmart scraps new video streaming platform to focus on Vudu

Retail

CIO Bulletin
2019-01-19

It looks like Walmart is storing away its ambitious project of streaming services. Its project of bringing out a competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu will not be happening now, sources say. Walmart had seriously planned to launch a streaming service that was primarily targeted to “Middle American” viewers.

The reason for scrapping the service is because there’s a lot of investment (financial and others) required to make original content. The retail giant’s ambition of hitting streaming service has been building up for a while now. Ever since Walmart experienced the success of its TV show Roseanne, it has wanted to channel its service towards the average American.

Risky Business

But it is risky business. With big players like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime raging the streaming services, Walmart’s investment might have gone either way. It seems like Walmart realized that it couldn’t outspend on content creation to beat these players.

This is why Walmart will divert its attention video platform Vudu. Back in 2010, Walmart had acquired the pay-per-view digital video service, Vudu, and it’s been doing quite well till now. So far, Vudu hasn’t brought out its own content, but who knows, Walmart may bring out something new in the future.