- 2018-11-27
Walmart promotes video-on-demand services
It was previously reported that Wal-Mart, headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., USA, intends to launch a subscription streaming video service to compete with Netflix and enter the field of TV program production to attract customers. However, the news was denied by insiders.
Currently, Wal-Mart is still trying to promote its video-on-demand business and is trying to provide video services to customers outside of major cities.
According to reports, currently, VUDU provides users with 150,000 pay-per-view movies and TV series content, which users can pay to watch on this platform. In addition, VUDU also provides a free streaming service called "Movies On Us". This service has 5,000 TV dramas and TV series content. The service adopts a free model and is supported by advertisements. However, in terms of video business, VUDU's monthly ratings are far lower than its competitors such as Netflix and Hulu.
Why did Wal-Mart launch its streaming service?
Vudu is a digital media division of Walmart. Walmart (Walmart) acquired Vudu in 2010. Although Vudu no longer develops its own set-top boxes since then, Vudu is more well-known in the smart TV market. It usually exists as a pre-installed application in the smart TV market. Some streaming hardware and smart TVs.
Vudu is more like a competitor of iTunes and Amazon Video in the movie rental market. Vudu currently offers about 150,000 movies and TV shows for rent or purchase; on its free, advertising-supporting streaming service Movies On Us, there are far fewer movies, with only 5,000 movies and TV shows.
Due to the contrasting identities of the retail giants, Wal-Mart’s move has attracted widespread attention, but combined with some of Wal-Mart’s actions at the content level from 2010 to 2018, we can actually see that Wal-Mart’s streaming media plan has a strong strategic motivation behind it.
Generally speaking, Wal-Mart’s service targets are more general, that is, the concept of household consumption. In the current retail industry, when the retail industry is constantly innovating, Wal-Mart regards itself as the tentacles of household consumption, and tries to continue in various ways. Strengthen the association with household consumption behavior.
Although Wal-Mart has indeed invested in Vudu, after the acquisition, it has continued to pursue the retail business of its related categories. However, for a long time, Wal-Mart has still supported the concept of product category retail in its essential operation thinking, and stayed on the DVD. At the digital consumption level, combined with the replacement of the old content forms by streaming media and other forms, household content consumption is getting farther and farther away from the old habits, and Wal-Mart is bound to make changes.
Attempts after the acquisition of Vudu
After Wal-Mart acquired Vudu, it used financial support and technical support to enhance Vudu's competitiveness.
1. InstaWatch
The addition of digital video discs with Blu-ray is to make physical video discs more popular with consumers. However, almost no consumers actually use these redeem codes. Some people find this process too time-consuming or just confusing; others forget that there are redeem codes this time. thing. In October 2014, Walmart tried to simplify this process by releasing a beta version of InstaWatch. InstaWatch is a new feature built into the Walmart app.
Once consumers purchase a video disc, they can scan the shopping receipt with Wal-Mart's app to find redeemable gifts (ie, digital video content), and then watch the content through the company's Vudu streaming service. Consumers shopping on the Wal-Mart website can also use InstaWatch.
Therefore, Wal-Mart believes that the creation of InstaWatch will not only attract more consumers to Vudu, but also help encourage consumers to consume in Vudu in the future.
On the other hand, for Wal-Mart’s InstaWatch, major Hollywood film companies have supported them (except Disney), such as DreamWorks Home Entertainment, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Media, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and Twentieth Century Fox Family. Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video, see this as a new way to promote DVD and digital sales.
Gibu Thomas, senior vice president of mobile and digital business at Walmart global eCommerce, said that after Walmart sold DVDs and Blu-ray products with digital codes, they found that the number of customers using redeem codes was only in the single digits. "Consumers paid for digital video discs, and we want to make sure they get the full value when they buy movies at Wal-Mart."
2. Movies On Us
In October 2016, Walmart announced the launch of its own video streaming service --- Vudu Movies on Us.
Users can use this service on any platform that can be downloaded to the Vudu application. The only requirement is to create a completely free Vudu account. Unlike movies purchased or rented from Vudu, movies on Movies On Us cannot be downloaded for offline viewing.
3. Digital conversion of physical DVDs
In March 2017, Walmart announced that its subscription-free on-demand streaming service Vudu will allow users to digitally convert nearly 8,000 DVD and Blu-ray movies to their Apple or Android phones. This conversion will be supported in the future. The content will be more.
According to the settings, when consumers enter the Vudu app, click the "Disc-to-Digital" option, and then scan the barcode on the DVD or Blu-ray disc. If you choose to convert DVD to SD format or Blu-ray to HDX format, the price of each movie is US$2;
It costs $5 to upgrade DVD to HDX. All Vudu users can get a free conversion opportunity. Vudu users can upload any number of movies at once and store them on their devices.
Jeremy Verba, general manager of Vudu, said in a statement: "The average movie collector owns nearly 100 DVDs and Blu-ray discs." "We know that these collectors have invested a lot of money in the collection process. As more and more Many customers create digital libraries, and we are always looking for ways to help them unlock additional value from existing movies."