Walmart has a huge hit on its hands with Vudu, the online movie store it acquired in 2010. For a company that has so far failed to utilize the Internet in the way it should have, this should count as a big victory. One which the company must hope is the first of many.
Walmart Takes On Vudu
Walmart acquired Vudu early in 2010 after previously trying and failing to launch its own movie and TV download offering. In a deal thought to be worth around $100 million Vudu became a subsidiary of the U.S.-based uber-retailer.
Around a year later Walmart pushed Vudu to the browser for the first time, complementing its availability across a huge range of Internet-connected devices (more than 300 at last count).
At the end of July Vudu was integrated into the main Walmart website in a big, bad way in an attempt to make it more mainstream. All of which appears to have paid off massively. So much so that Vudu can now be considered a big player.
Market Share Increase
According to IHS Screen Digest Research, Vudu’s market share under Walmart’s ownership has increased substantially, rising from one percent in the first half of 2010 to 5.3 percent in the first half of 2011. This has seen it jump above both Amazon on 4.2 percent and the Playstation Store on 4.4 percent.
No surprise which company and service is at number one, and by quite a margin. Apple iTunes currently has a 65.8 percent market share, and that only seems to be increasing. More surprising, possibly, is Microsoft‘s Zune video marketplace at number two with a 16.2 percent market share, although now seems to be dwindling.
Conclusions
This is great news for Walmart, a bricks-and-mortar business which has struggled to make the transition to the Web. Vudu represents a huge success in this regard. I wonder how many of its new-found customers have sought alternatives after Netflix upped its prices?
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