Walmart Strikes Streaming Deal With Paramount

Walmart Strikes Streaming Deal With Paramount+

Walmart Inc. WMT 0.29% has reached an agreement with Paramount Global PARA 1.41% to offer subscribers to the Walmart membership program the entertainment company’s Paramount+ streaming service, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Walmart has been considering a subscription video streaming deal to bring more people to Walmart+ while trying to challenge Amazon.com Inc., which has expanded its own Prime membership program to around 200 million global members.

Walmart and Paramount declined to comment. Walmart is expected to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

Walmart executives have been in talks for the past few weeks to strike a streaming deal with executives from Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp. and Paramount Global, according to a Wall Street Journal article last week.

Paramount Global operates the Paramount+ service, which offers shows such as “Halo” and a “Star Trek” series. The company announced this month that Paramount+ had more than 43 million subscribers at the end of its most recent quarter.

Walmart launched Walmart+ in 2020 and aims to use the service to generate new revenue streams beyond selling goods and to compete with Amazon’s success with its Prime membership services. A subscription to Walmart+ costs $12.95 per month or $98 per year and includes free shipping on online orders and discounts on gas. The retailer has added perks to spark interest, such as: B. Six months of Spotify music streaming service.

The deal also adds to the growing group of companies looking to bundle content to attract viewers or customers. YouTube plans to launch an online store for streaming video services and has resumed talks with entertainment companies about joining the platform. YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc., would join Apple Inc., Roku Inc. and Amazon, all of which have hubs for selling streaming video services.

Walmart hasn’t disclosed how many members have signed up for its Walmart+ service. A Morgan Stanley poll in May showed the service had about 16 million members, down from about 15 million in November.

Amazon has invested heavily to expand its own Prime Video service, adding original programming and live sports. Prime Video, along with free shipping and other perks, comes with Prime membership, which costs $14.99 a month or $139 a year in the US.

The deal would give Paramount+ a new avenue for growth in an increasingly competitive streaming market after all major entertainment companies have streaming offerings and US growth for many services like Netflix has slowed.

The line between Amazon and Walmart is increasingly blurring as the two companies seek to retain their share of the estimated $5 trillion retail market while simultaneously taking away each other’s share, often by borrowing each other’s ideas. Photos: Amazon/Walmart

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