Walmart Bets on TV Shows for Families, Date Night in Media Push (bloomberg.com) 52
Walmart already sells more TVs than anyone. Now it wants to make the shows you watch on them, too. From a report: The retailer plans to bankroll at least a half-dozen original programs over the next year, and will unveil the first few to advertisers in New York this week, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing people familiar with the plans said. Walmart has talked with several Hollywood studios about rebooting family-friendly projects from years ago, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren't public yet. Walmart's slate is supposed to lure more viewers to Vudu, a company-owned streaming service that already offers free programs with commercials, along with online rentals and sales of movies and shows. [...] With streaming starting to supplant DVDs, Walmart acquired Vudu in 2010 to gain a foothold in the burgeoning market for online entertainment. But the service has been an also-ran, while Netflix, Google, Apple and Amazon built global audiences in the tens of millions. [...] Unlike Netflix and Amazon, Walmart isn't going to sell its customers a subscription. It sees an opportunity to generate cash by using shows on Vudu to advertise products. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer has been pitching advertising agencies in recent weeks, eager to line up deals in time for its presentation this week.
This is actually interesting (Score:1)
One of the few mostly-offline companies which is doing some advanced stuff - imagine being so big you can have your own Netflix just to advertise the shit on your shelves.
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Walmart is the #3 online retailer in the US. Around $20B in online sales. #1 is amazon, #2 ebay and #4 is apple
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One of the few mostly-offline companies which is doing some advanced stuff - imagine being so big you can have your own Netflix just to advertise the shit on your shelves.
Imagine a world where every commercial is Walmart
Re: This is actually interesting (Score:1)
reboot advertising (Score:3, Interesting)
It sees an opportunity to generate cash by using shows on Vudu to advertise products
I think it's time to reboot advertising as long as they're rebooting old shows. Watch an early episode of something like Burns and Allen where the advertising segment has a guy walk in and start talking about Carnation condensed milk in the middle of a scene.
It makes for some seriously wacky non sequitur most of the time.
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Walmart customer centered content?? (Score:3)
I mean, have you seen the typical WM customer?
I'd be worried if we had video versions of the People of Walmart [peopleofwalmart.com] type sites, where just still images of the people in WM stores is enough to keep you awake at nights.
YOu just can UN-see some of those, where. Hmm, perhaps they can start with videos like THIS [youtube.com] for their initial year of programming.
I could be named Walmart Reality show and, unfortunately, likely be the top ratings winner of all streaming AND broadcast TV.
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What the liars at Wallmart are trying to sell, the retailer selling advertising for the products it sells. So who is responsible when the products don't sell. For example will Wallmart focus on those products that produce the most profits for it, cheap crap with high prices or will they allow pricey stuff with low markups to sell at all. Wallmart are a pack of lying, fraudulent scum bags, who would be stupid enough to trust them with their advertising dollars. You didn't spend enough on ads, your fucking sh
Re: Walmart customer centered content?? (Score:1)
What families are watching TV together? (Score:2)
Re:What families are watching TV together? (Score:4, Insightful)
You're actually trying to argue that watching TV is somehow a better use of time than participating in sports, choir, scouts, church, friendship(!), etc.?
I think you're the one who needs to step back and evaluate your time and how you spend it.
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I didn't read the GP's statement as he wants to sit around and watch TV with his family.
The way I read it, his family, along with many others, simply don't watch television as a family, and that Walmart is pining for a past that is not likely to return.
Re: What families are watching TV together? (Score:1)
I think Walmart - who has tried this unsuccessfully before - ought to be prepared with how irritable some people are going to be.
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Do ya'll at least eat dinner together as a family meal?
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Vudu is Basically Dead (Score:3)
Lets be honest here, the moment that studios pulled out of Ultraviolet it was a death knell for Vudu as it has been to this point. One has to imagine that effectively no one uses Vudu directly to buy or rent digital movies, they use Apple or Google.
This strikes me as an attempt by Walmart to justify its Vudu's existence and avoid writing the purchase off entirely.
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Walmart sells TVs from many of the major manufacturers. You sound pretty snobbish saying that Samsung/LG/RCA/Sony/Sanyo/NEC/Philips/Sharp/Hitachi etc. are "off-brand".
Re: Walmart sells the most TVs? (Score:1)
Please, just no politics in your movies (Score:1)
At this point I would be willing to spend a fortune for even one studio making old-fashioned movies that don't beat me over the head with Hollywood's increasingly shrill social justice agenda and obsession with bashing anyone to the right of Che Guevara. Could I just get some fun movies where no one cares about race, gender, or Orange Man...pretty please?
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Sure, one example is Captain Marvel. There was nothing in there that was political in any way. I guess, if you really wanted to be offended, they gender-swapped the character from the books. But, you just said you didn't care about gender, right? Cause in the movie, the only thing about her gender that matters is some minor backstory bits about that being why she and her friend knew each other.
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A lot of weird errors here. First, and a technicality, MCU Phase 3 just ended (well, technically the next Spider Man ends it, but that's just Sony's whining). Second, Captain Marvel, at 8 weeks out, is the #2 film in the box office (second to Endgame, which also has her in it). Even inflation adjusted, the top three MCU movies are Black Panther, Iron Man 3, and Captain Marvel (ignoring the Avengers ensemble movies of course.) So,obviously the movies you dislike pay off at the box office. Third, none of t
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'Family-friendly' == 'Christian-oriented'? (Score:1)
Also, peppering it with advertising content? Seriously?
So they want to not only shove God down people's throats, but ads along with it?
MEMO TO WALMART: Just sell your cheap shit, and stop trying to insinuate yourselves into every aspect of your customers' lives. Also stop underpaying your employees, and stop discriminating against people whose lifestyles you don't 'approve' of, while you're at it. It's the 21st Century for fuck's sake, not the 1950's.
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Or at school.
Or when they become adults, but by then your misguided attempts to shelter them have left them unprepared for all the above you were such a helicopter parent about, so they don't even know how to handle it.
Wouldn't it be better to prepare your kids for what the Real World is like?
Oh and by the way if it's Wally World doing this it'll be 'christian oriented' for sure, because they have an agenda.
It'll also be anti-LGB
Great Value Movies (Score:2)
Still poor security on Walmart online checkout (Score:1)
I tried Walmart as an alternative to other online stores. They seem to have the advantage over Amazon by supporting Paypal. But I discovered that randomly my orders would get automatically cancelled as being potential fraud. When I would ask Walmart customer service, they blamed Paypal. When I asked Paypal customer service, they indicated they didn't do anything to flag my transactions as potential fraud and my account remains in good standing. If I replaced the order a couple days later, it would go
Re: Still poor security on Walmart online checkout (Score:1)
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Let me be clear, I am not trying to promote Paypal as being a good solution for everyone. The company has some really awful policies issues.
My main point is that when a company with five times the assets advices customers to give credit card details directly to their website, they really should be able to match the best security practices of Paypal. It seems clear to me that Walmart is putting little effort into doing so.
The feature of additional half dozen family programs with ads is not a good sell