Walmart negotiates a potential streaming service deal

Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal joins the Live show to break down which streaming platforms Walmart is in negotiations with to find a potential partner.

Video transcript

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RACHELLE AKUFFO: Watch out, everyone. There could be a new player in the streaming wars. According to the "New York Times," Walmart has held discussions with some of the top executives at media companies to include streaming entertainment in its membership service. Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal has the latest. Allie.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: That's right, Rachelle. According to the "New York Times," Walmart is weighing bundling a streaming service into its Walmart Plus membership program. Now, Walmart reportedly met with executives from Paramount, which owns Paramount Plus and Showtime, Disney, the parent company of Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Plus, along with Comcast, which owns Peacock. So it is possible that we could see one of those streaming services included in that Walmart Plus membership.

I did reach out to Walmart for comment. They said, quote, "We will not be commenting on speculation." So didn't give any color there, but this would be a pretty strategic move that allows Walmart to engage with consumers beyond just the brick and mortar. The plan currently cost $12.95 per month. You're seeing on your screen now, but it includes free shipping on orders, discounts on fuel, and also a free six month subscription to Spotify Premium.

So to me, this seems like a move that would allow Walmart to compete with Amazon, right, and the ancillary businesses there with Amazon Prime and Amazon Prime Video. So that seems to be what they're trying to mimic here. And honestly, pretty smart given the landscape that we're operating in right now. But I do want to mention that Walmart did previously purchase a streaming service called Vudu, but due to those high costs, which we've seen a lot of those streaming competitors deal with along with just the influx of streaming platforms that have entered the market, they ended up selling that platform to Comcast Fandango in 2020. So it's a shift in strategy that we're seeing today, but Walmart still interested in streaming.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, Allie, you mentioned the fact that this is a strategic partnership here for Walmart. I think it also makes sense potentially for some of these streaming giants because we talk about the fact that they are having trouble growing, they're having trouble finding new users. So if you tap a partner like Walmart, that really opens up, potentially, your customer base.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: For sure. And I think this is something we're going to see more and more of, right, this sort of win-win, push pull scenario that's mutually beneficial to everyone. I remember when Disney Plus first launched, Verizon was offering one free year of the service to those customers with an unlimited plan. T-Mobile had the same exact approach to Paramount Plus. So streaming services partnering with wireless providers, these tech giants, these consumer giants, I think that's only something that you're going to continue to see as time goes on, the landscape intensifies, competition remains hot, and content costs continue to surge.

So I think you're right on the money, Seana. This is something we're going to see a lot more of.