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Can Walmart Take on Amazon's Prime With Repositioned Vudu?

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Walmart, Inc. (WMT - Free Report) is reportedly planning to launch its own video service by the end of this year. This, undoubtedly, makes it more evident that the brick-and-mortar giant is fast trying to catch up with its biggest rival, Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) .

It goes without saying that the online streaming market is booming and an increasing number of players are trying to penetrate the zone. This certainly will intensify competition for the likes of Netflix, Inc. (NFLX - Free Report) , Hulu and Amazon, which have so far been dominating the space.

Walmart Joins Online Streaming War

Walmart is reportedly planning to reposition Vudu, its video locker service, as an affordable video streaming service, according to Variety. The offering would be similar to most other streaming services comprising licensed content and original video.

This is perhaps an intelligent move by Walmart at a time when Amazon is fast changing the retail ballgame. The e-commerce giant’s shopping and video-streaming service, Amazon Prime, has been a huge hit across the globe.

Given this scenario, it makes sense for Walmart to take the challenge to Amazon with its own video-streaming service. And if everything goes according to plan, Walmart is likely to launch the service in the fourth quarter of 2018. Moreover, Walmart’s move into the video-streaming market will only intensify competition in a space that was so far dominated by Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.

That said, according to the report, Walmart’s video streaming service could cost as low as $8 per month. This could certainly intensify the war further, as an Amazon Prime subscriber needs to shell out $119 annually. Similarly, Netflix too hiked its subscription to $10.99 per month in the United States in late 2017.

Competition Escalates

Walmart definitely is gearing up to throw a challenge to the existing players with its video streaming service. However, Walmart too will be facing stiff competition from the existing players as well as a host of companies that are also planning to launch their online streaming service in the days to come.

That said competition is already taking a fierce shape. Interestingly, Netflix’s shares fell as much as 13% in the after-hours trading on Jul 16 after the company in the quarterly results reported that it has added 5.15 million subscribers, falling shy of its forecast of 6.2 million. The figures aren’t low but it definitely shows that subscribers now have more options to choose from.

Interestingly, Netflix in a letter to its shareholders cited increased pressure from competitors like the recently announced merger between The Walt Disney Company (DIS - Free Report) and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (FOXA - Free Report) and the one between AT&T (T - Free Report) and Time Warner.

AT&T now owns Warner Bros, HBO and CNN. Disney recently launched ESPN’s online streaming service and plans to unveil its own online video streaming service in 2019. Apple, Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) too is investing in original content and developing its own streaming service. Apple has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Also, Netflix is expected to shell out $17.9 billion this year, up from $15.3 billion in 2017 on licensed content. And now that Walmart too is planning to jump the bandwagon, it is only going to heat up the competition.

Summing Up

The global media streaming market is fast expanding with demand for original content on the rise. Walmart’s video streaming plans are not only aimed at capturing the online streaming market but also diversifying business and staying abreast to take on its biggest rival Amazon.

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