Competition between Walmart and Amazon heats up this week, as Walmart announces their expansion into entertainment. The big box store is planning to merge together two entertainment companies, Metro-Golwyn-Mayer and Eko, to create fresh new content for their video platform, Vudu.
Walmart purchased Vudu, a streaming service, which allows customers to buy and rent films, in 2010. Walmart is now attempting to improve the platform to compete with other media service providers while also targeting middle to low-income shoppers. MGM will create original content for the platform, which will be free to watch when seen with ads on Vudu.
Eko, a reported $250 million investment, will create short, interactive films, which will be shown on Walmart.com. Eko has created content for brands like, Coca-Cola, Ford and Ikea and was also the creator of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”. Scott McCall, the Senior Vice President of Walmart, said “This is really what we think is the next generation of storytelling,” McCall said. “It can be marketing. It can be short-form video or long-form content. It can reside on Walmart.com or Vudu, but it is not tied to those platforms”.
Walmart is attempting to venture past their retail roots, and become more interactive with their customers by creating entertainment. Do you think you’ll head over to Walmart for the newest entertainment content? Or stick with your beloved ad-free media service platform?