Walmart+ Partners with Paramount+ to Compete with Amazon Prime

 

Walmart+ Partners with Paramount+ to Compete with Amazon Prime

Walmart is partnering with Paramount Global to offer its streaming service, Paramount+, to members of Walmart’s own free shipping program and Amazon Prime rival, Walmart+. Walmart has announced the news of its agreement but did not suggest when access to the steaming service would roll out to Walmart+ members. The deal was confirmed by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on, following news of the retailer’s discussions with major media companies about such an arrangement.

Rolled out in September 2020, the $98 per year Walmart+ subscription includes benefits like free same-day delivery, fuel discounts, free shipping from Walmart.com, in-home delivery, contact-free checkout with scan & go and early access to deals. In addition to the annual fee, consumers can opt to pay for Walmart+ at a rate of $12.95 per month for the same perks. Walmart also has a partnership with Spotify to offer members six months of Spotify Premium for free.

The new partnership with Paramount not only provides Walmart with a more competitive offering to rival Amazon Prime, it could also help boost lagging Walmart+ subscriptions. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) found that Walmart+ membership subscriptions had peaked and were now on a slight decline on a quarter-over-quarter basis. It said that as of this July, 11 million customers in the U.S. were Walmart+ members, whilst a different study by Morgan Stanley, estimated Walmart+ had grown to around 16 million members.

“For the last three quarters, membership has remained constant at 11 to 11.5 million customers,” noted CIRP co-founder Josh Lowitz. Before this, he added, “Walmart+ membership had increased steadily since Walmart introduced the program in September 2020, with COVID-19 pandemic shoppers signing up.”

This is not the first time Walmart has entered into the streaming market. The company acquired the on-demand video service Vudu in 2010 but sold it to Comcast’s Fandango in 2020. It also invested in interactive video company Eko and partnered with Roku in June to bring shoppable ads to the streaming media platform.