As major media players launch and acquire services and content providers report material revenues, we profile the services driving interest in the US.
Vudu Overview
American retail company Walmart acquired Vudu for a reported $100 million in February 2010. Unlike its competitors, Vudu offers an extensive buy and rent service to customers as well as free ad-supported content.
According to Julian Franco, Head of AVOD for Vudu, they are targeting over half the U.S. households that don’t have Netflix. Franco indicates that Walmart “Have 150 million people coming into our stores. And they’ve told us they’ll watch ads in order to save money on video.”
Vudu's proposition
In 2017 Vudu launched ‘Movies On Us’, an ad funded offering to complement the core transactional VOD business that boasts 180,000 titles to buy or rent.
Vudu’s Movies on Us offers 7,000 movies. It also has 335 full seasons of TV shows, free to watch with ads and is made up of mainly library and classic titles including Reasonable Doubt, Mad Max, True Grit and Abduction.
Vudu struck a deal in Q4 2018 to licence original content from studios' based on franchises from MGMs film and TV catalogue.
For advertisers, Vudu offers targeted ads based on viewers shopping habits. Ad load is relatively low with around 6-8 minutes per hour.
Vudu's distribution
Vudu is available via an app (Android and iOS) and Comcast. Other devices include PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Apple TV, TiVo and Roku devices.
Variety report that Vudu has 25 million registered users across the platform.
Future plans
Reports suggest that Vudu is planning to offer subscription services like HBO Now, Showtime and Starz on the platform, much like Amazon Channels.
There are also conflicting reports as to whether Walmart are planning to launch a subscription-based platform, with initial reports suggesting they are, and more recently that they have scrapped such plans in favour of focusing on Vudu.
Vudu have not announced any plans to expand internationally yet.
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