Walmart Beat Netflix and Amazon to Video on Demand But Still Lost
- Embedded in millions of devices, app could be a sleeping giant
- On-demand unit holds untapped streaming potential for retailer
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Walmart Inc. has a vast arsenal at its disposal in its battle with Amazon.com Inc.: stores, trucks, warehouses, even a blockchain-enabled supply chain of fruits and vegetables.
But there’s one weapon it’s barely deployed: Vudu, the video-on-demand service it bought eight years ago. Back then, Netflix was available only in the U.S. and Canada, Amazon was still a year away from offering free videos for its Prime members and Apple had just released its first iPad. With a library of 5,000 films from all the big studios available at the press of a button, Vudu promised to “revolutionize” the home-movie experience when it debuted in 2007.