A few weeks ago, we learned that Walmart was planning on launching their own on-demand subscription streaming service. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new service is being billed as the Netflix of “Middle America.” Walmart is hoping to diversify and take on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video with a service they hope will be in line with what average Americans want.
Now a new report says that Walmart is expected to spend billions on this new service. According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, Walmart will likely spend between $2 and $3 billion on their new streaming service.
Walmart is hoping to expand outside of their traditional big box retail stores. Right now, Walmart is seeing more competition from places like Amazon and cheaper stores like Dollar General. This has been eating into Walmart’s growth and profits.
Walmart already has experience in online streaming. In 2010, Walmart purchased Vudu and has used their existing stores to push the service. Now Walmart is hoping to do the same with a new subscription video service.
Vudu currently offers 150,000 movies and TV shows to buy or rent. Vudu also offers 5,000+ free movies and TV shows to stream if you are willing to watch ads. (Or you can pay to watch them ad free.)
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