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Walmart to Enter the Streaming Services Ring

Vudu’s getting more help from Walmart in the battle for streaming supremacy. The retail giant is getting ready for battle before it enters the ring.

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Walmart to Enter the Streaming Services Ring
Vudu’s getting more help from Walmart in the battle for streaming supremacy. There’s an unseen arena out there with three big contenders; Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. Smaller contestants are also in the ring, but they’re not making much of an impact. They’re content to stick to their small niches and maintain their authority there. Vudu was one of them. Now Walmart, having bought the company back in 2010, is looking to expand into the streaming arena and become a serious competitor.

The Champion

Though in its early phases, it seems likely Walmart will launch this new streaming service by the end of this year. If that’s true, then Walmart has little-to-no-time to build a streaming service from the ground up. This necessitates using one of the properties they already own- Vudu. Vudu rents and sells digital movies. The online service also launched its own ad-support streaming service, Movies On Us. These two services, while nice, are not in the same league as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. For one, they don’t create original content. Two, they’re just for movies and not shows. For Vudu to compete, Walmart would need to expand the offerings inside of it…which they are. Walmart has met with content producers inside Hollywood to discuss the creation of original content. If this move is successful, Walmart will have something different to offer the viewing public instead of syndicating popular titles. As stated before, they seek to launch this service by the end of the year. Unless Walmart has been secretly building up a streaming service, which is unlikely, then they’d have to use Vudu to do it. Vudu already has the basics in place for streaming. The goal would now become to add the shows and viewing capabilities required for streaming services.

Walmart’s Got Other Allies

Although Walmart has Vudu and can use the online movie streaming service as the platform for a larger scale entertainment service, Walmart would still need help in handling that kind of online traffic. Luckily, they do. On July 17th, as Amazon Prime Day was winding down, Walmart announced a five-year partnership with Microsoft. The technology giant would provide cloud services for Walmart. These cloud services are not just for streaming services. Part of the deal is to help improve Walmart’s online infrastructure and presence to better compete against Amazon. With this deal in place, and if the streaming service does launch by the end of this year, then Walmart can attack Amazon on more fronts. And who knows, maybe Walmart will have their own artificial holiday to take on Amazon’s Prime Day?

A Decisive Move

Walmart entering the streaming entertainment field means yet another streaming service to consider. In this Era of Peak TV, there are so many shows to watch that it’s overwhelming. This is both good and bad. Bad in that time is spent watching episode after episode. Sure, it’s entertaining, but you’re sacrificing time that you could also be outside enjoying nature, playing a sport, or talking to real people. Streaming entertainment isn’t bad when it’s in moderation. The good is that there’s bound to be something available that you’d like to watch. No matter your taste in entertainment, Peak TV has something for you to get hooked on. Good shows have a way of touching that creative side of our brain. They provoke us to try new things, even push our own boundaries. A better catalyst for pushing boundaries is reading a book, but we can get into that later. With Walmart entering the streaming entertainment field, there’s going to be more options. And not just for shows. But when it comes to price. There’s news that Walmart will offer this streaming service at a price lower than Netflix and Amazon. While this seems an obvious competitive move to make on Walmart’s part, there’s a hidden advantage. Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, though great and offer a wealth of engaging content, they’re seen as more “west coast and east coast.” These streaming giants seem to tailor their content for people who live on the east and west coasts. These parts of the country aren’t bad. They do, however, have a different set of values than those on the interior. It appears that Walmart is seeking to create content that speaks more to middle America than the other three are. And with a lower price point, it’s sure to get a lot of attention when it’s first launched. Should Walmart go ahead with this move it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

A New Phase for Walmart?

Streaming services have their “personality.” To compete against them, a company must adopt a certain “streaming persona” to compete. This is true in other areas of life, not just entertainment. What will Walmart’s be? Whether they’re “hip and cool” or more “country,” doesn’t matter. Walmart needs to own it and commit to a direction. The true test to see if Walmart will be able to take on Netflix and Amazon is how their content matches up. What kind of content will they create? Are they looking for big players? Or are they going to gamble on unknowns and hope that they can score big? Until that happens, we’ll just have to wait as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and the rest of the gladiators in the Colosseum duke it out with new content and package deals. And while you wait, check your internet bill. If it’s a little high and you’re wanting to make sure in your budget for Walmart’s new streaming service, then have a look at the best Spectrum internet deals. No use fighting that battle.

Rocky Start Didn’t Keep Amazon Prime Day from Hitting the Target

One of the biggest retail days,Amazon Prime Day…had a rocky start. After that,Amazon struggled to handle the influx of visitors on its special day.

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Rocky Start Didn’t Keep Amazon Prime Day from Hitting the Target
One of the biggest retail days, Amazon Prime Day…had a rocky start. While Amazon isn’t a slouch when it comes to handling customers, the moment Prime Day launched, they started having problems. Glitches started to pop up from the first minute. Soon Amazon had problems handling that many visitors on its biggest retail day of the year.

What Did Amazon Do?

Naturally, Amazon reacted and scrambled to fix the problem. To help deal with the sudden increase of visitors, they switched to a fallback page, the one displaying dogs. This tactic was the help lessen the burden on the exchanges of Amazon’s hubs. They ended up becoming a story of their own. A company-wide emergency conference call was set up to figure out how to deal with the problem. By that time the problems grew faster than the dog pictures story; Sable, the internal computation, and storage service of Amazon was slowed down. When that happened, Prime, video playback, and authentication services were slowed down as well. To combat the problem, all international traffic was cut off to allow the network engineers time to hastily install more servers to deal with the overload. Once that was done, Amazon was back up and running to its normal speed. Though scary, the company plowed through, working to find the heart of the issue and get them fixed as soon as possible. They did, after all, set up the whole day. There was no turning back. The good news is that this was the most profitable Prime Day for Amazon. In the end, they rebounded well.

Amazon Wasn’t the Only Winner

Other companies launched sales of their own to counter Amazon’s momentum. While there were competitive deals, one retailer had the biggest bump in sales. Pitching their deals as a “no membership required sale” Target scored its best single day of sales and traffic. Part of the reason was Target’s recent acquisition of Shipt. Another part was the Minneapolis-based retailers push to improve their online infrastructure. When an online order comes in for delivery, most of the time it’s pulled from the shelf of a brick and mortar Target. Then it’s handed over to Shipt for delivery. Other retailers reported higher than average earnings too. Walmart, though it had Anti-Prime Day Deals, also used the occasion to announce they’d partnered with Microsoft as their exclusive cloud provider. This comes as part of the news that Walmart will be launching their own streaming service soon. The real question here is what kind of content will they be producing? In the meantime, this trend of Anti-Prime Day Deals will likely continue next year. It will continue so long as this artificial holiday is profitable for Amazon.

How to Compete

To truly take advantage of Prime Day, Amazon’s competitors will need to find a way to emulate the online retailer’s momentum without blatantly copying. This may seem silly to suggest, but it’s usually the simplest ideas that prove to be the most effective. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not so much. Keep in mind, however, these companies have multi-million-dollar budgets for marketing and hire marketing firms that charge just as much to hire them. With this type of money being thrown around, surely they’ll be able to find the right talent to help them crack the code for the perfect “Anti-Amazon Prime Day” Campaign. Target has already done so. Finding the right talent will lead to the right ideas. It’s ideas that drive the marketing. The marketing is what makes the difference between a successful sale or not. Sadly, it’s not how good the product is, it’s how well it’s sold. For example; the Pet Rock. It’s a dumb idea to put a rock in a box and call it a pet. The marketing is what set that apart and made it a success.

Next Year’s Amazon Prime Day

With this year such a success, you can bet money that Amazon will work harder to make next year’s even bigger. Of course, they’ll need to do a better job of preparing for such an extreme turn out of visitors. To avoid such a series of glitches, they’ll need more than one fall back plan. Dogs may have been cute, but it’ll only work for so long. Another tactic Amazon can use is to coordinate the launch of a new season of one of their hit shows. Or a new show with a lot of hype. Sure there’ll be traffic for the site, but isn’t that the point? Better to prepare now for it and start building up hype while the buzz of this year’s Prime Day is still fresh in the mind.

Make the Most of Amazon

While there may have been problems with Amazon on Prime Day, make sure your home network and connection are secure. This way it’ll be Amazon’s fault entirely. Search for the best Spectrum cable and internet in your area. Condense all those charges into one, smaller, bill. You’ll save money, the headache, and be able to show quickly online. And you’ll be ready for next year’s Amazon Prime Day and Anti-Prime Day deals and discounts.

2 Million Reasons Netflix May Be Losing Their Edge

Netflix has spent over $8,000,000,000 (that’s billion with a B),racked up 112 Emmy Nominations…but they may be losing their edge.

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2 Million Reasons Netflix May Be Losing Their Edge
Netflix has spent over $8,000,000,000 (that’s billion with a B), racked up 112 Emmy Nominations…but they may be losing their edge. Despite their big push in creating original content and knocking HBO off their throne, they’ve missed their forecast of new subscribers for the second quarter of 2018, by 2 million. This has happened three times in the past ten years, so it’s not as shocking as one would think. Of course, Netflix’s stock dropped more than 14% in response to this. And now executives for Netflix, as well as outside business analysts, are asking why this happened.

Whose Fault Is It?

The blame, according to executives, lies on poor internal forecasting…and not the recent hike in prices for new and veteran subscribers. Forecasting is, at best, a guess. Meteorologists for the local news are guessing every day that the weather will turn out a certain way. There’s sophisticated technology, models, and years of training that go into it. Underneath it all, however, they are still guessing. Analysts in the world of business and finance are making a prediction when they forecast the future. And if we know anything about the future, we know it’s going to be wildly different than what we assume it will be. To blame a miss of 2 million subscribers on poor internal forecasting is a little short-sighted. Because when the weather turns, do you go after your local meteorologist?

What Can They Do About It?

While Netflix didn’t gain those 2 million new subscribers, there hasn’t been any news that they’ve lost any either. Netflix retains its current subscriber base of 130 million globally. They’re still a powerhouse to deal with and after besting HBO in Emmy Nominations, they’ve done well in positioning themselves to finish strong for 2018. Now, HBO is working on reclaiming that dominance and has already laid out their first weapon; Joss Whedon. On July 16th, it was announced that Whedon’s new show, The Nevers, will be on HBO. The network beat out Netflix in a bidding war to get the show and ordered the series directly…without ever seeing a pilot. HBO is taking the smart path by focusing on new content. Netflix can do the same by doubling-down on their content. By keeping their subscribers satisfied with their shows, the streaming giant can still grow their subscribers organically. Because a satisfied viewer is likely to recommend the show to their friends. For Netflix to artificially raise their number of subscribers, they should set their sites a little more realistically.

Think Strategically

Without those 2 million subscribers, the streaming giant will lose a little bit of momentum. Not a lot, just a little. There’s no harm in being cautious though, as the executives at Netflix have a right to be. What they can do is get ready for awards season. Netflix can continue to campaign for their shows that helped them get those 112 Emmy nominations. They’re in a good spot to walk home with the most wins this year and deal an even bigger blow to their biggest competitor, HBO. There’s also the Golden Globes coming up. These awards shows seem to mirror each other when it comes to nominations, so don’t be surprised if Netflix beats out HBO for Golden Globes as well. Netflix should keep on campaigning like they normally do.

The Forecast for Netflix

So long as Netflix doesn’t panic or commit a knee-jerk reaction, they’ll be fine. History is rife with companies, and people, who reacted to something small and created a big problem. Just think of The Pig War. In 1859, a single hog was caught rooting in a farmer’s potatoes. To save his potatoes, the farmer, an American, shot the hog, owned by a British man. Tensions rose when one accused the other of foul play. Soon the hog’s death became an act of aggression by Americans’ towards the British. US soldiers were sent to the island, British Navy ships were sent to bolster the British merchants there. All because a hog got out and ate a few potatoes. The executives of Netflix just need to keep their cool. Things like this can happen and it’s important to remember that this was based on forecasted data. One shouldn’t invest too much in the predictions of the future from a single source. What Netflix should be interested in is HBO’s plan to reclaim their throne. As the networks continue to battle it out, their main weapons will be content- shows. The harder they work to beat the other, the better the shows will be. If this turns out to not be the case, then someone else will swoop in and claim dominance. Be it Netflix, HBO, Amazon, or someone else, make sure you don’t miss your favorite shows by checking out the best Spectrum internet deals. You can also save yourself some money in the process!

HBO's One New Weapon: Joss Whedon

In recent posts,HBO has been dealing with bad news. It may have found their one weapon in the coming retaliation against Netflix. His name is Joss Whedon.

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HBO's One New Weapon: Joss Whedon
Previous posts, like this one and this one, have been detailing HBO’s current woes and challenges as they navigate their new world that’s post-merger, and post Netflix. And yet, HBO keeps on surprising. As of Friday, Joss Whedon’s newest show, The Nevers, will be on HBO. This may be their edge in the upcoming retaliation for Netflix edging them out in the count for Emmy Nominations.

Where’s Whedon Been?

Joss Whedon, for those who haven’t been paying attention, has been behind some of the biggest entertainment hits in recent history. He had humble beginnings writing for a few sitcoms in the late eighties and early nineties. His first big-screen writing credit is Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. This cult hist spawned a TV show of the same name and a spinoff series, Angel. From there, Whedon had a string of shows that lasted one, maybe two, seasons before the brilliant minds in Hollywood decided to pull the plug. The most famous of these was Firefly. Executive meddling got int he way of its greatness and the sci-fi western floundered. When it ended a fan writing campaign was enough to get a movie made—Serenity. If you want to see a younger Nathan Fillion in an iconic role, as well as lead an amazing cast of characters and actors at their best then watch Firefly. Other, lesser-known but equally entertaining shows that Whedon created were Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog. Well worth your time. Luckily, Whedon’s writing and directing skills didn’t end there as he was tapped to helm the first two Avengers movies. These cornerstones of the Marvel Cinematic Universe grossed big in the box office and put Whedon up there, where he belongs, next to other great names in screenwriting and directing. He also created and produced the ABC Studios Agents of Shields, a weekly drama that tied together the various parts, introduced minor characters, kept the hype of the MCU going. Unfortunately, the stress of working within a complicated universe, and probably some executive meddling again, cause Whedon to go on hiatus. He didn’t disappear entirely, he just took some time off and wasn’t seen for a little bit. DC, finally making a smart move, hired him to help write the screenplay for the first Justice League movie. Now if DC could just get a coherent continuity going, they may just be able to contend with Marvel!

Back to Whedon

He is most well-known for his campy sci-fi and fantasy shows, as well as his involvement in The Avengers powerhouse. That’s not all he’s done though. There’s plenty of movies to his name, but his best writing work is by far is The Cabin in The Woods. Bradley Whitford, Richard Jenkins, and a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth show us their acting chops thanks to the superb script penned by Whedon and Drew Goddard. If you’re looking for both clever humor and truly thrilling horror, this movie delivers. It’s also one of those rare gems that you wish they could make a sequel out of but know that it would be impossible to do. Just watch the movie, trust me, you’ll understand.

What’s Whedon Doing Now?

Thanks to his name carrying clout, when Whedon expressed interest in shopping around a new show, a bidding war erupted. HBO won that war, bringing Whedon to their network and quite possibly putting the odds in their favor again as they combat Netflix and Amazon. The Nevers, described as “an epic science-fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world,” was greenlit before a pilot was very written. That’s just the kind of clout that Whedon carries these days. While we only have this short description to go on, we know a lot about Whedon’s style based on his previous shows and movies. First, we know he’s a master story-teller and will take his time to build the story. For those who keep with him, the ending is a sweet reward. Everyone else has to play catchup. Second, Whedon was able to create a vast and rich universe on very little money. Imagine what he could do with HBO backing him? Third, there are great actors, and then there are great writers who push great actors to another level. Nathan Fillion is a great actor. It's a true treat to watch him play the role of Captain Malcolm Reynolds. It's what has set him apart from the rest. One last thing- Whedon’s storytelling isn’t the same as the rest. While HBO is known for their gritty violence and blatant sexuality, Whedon will likely chart his own course. There’s no stopping him now that he’s on HBO. Whedon's a different creator though. He could decide that his story doesn’t need that to win our hearts and capture our imaginations. Aa Captain Reynolds says, “I aim to misbehave.”

How Long Do We Have to Wait?

As of this writing, the premiere date of The Nevers is unknown. Until then we’ll have to make do with reruns of Firefly, Agents of Shield, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Depending on your service provider, you can get access to all these titles and more. If not, make sure to check out the best Spectrum cable internet. You’ll be able to bundle both cable and internet. You'll also lower your bills while getting your mind blown by the cinematic mastery of Joss Whedon.   “I Think I can get it to go down.” “Do we want to go down?”

The 8 Biggest Anti-Amazon Prime Day Contenders

Today is Amazon Prime Day if you haven’t noticed. If you don’t have a Prime Membership,there are plenty of other retailers with deals today. Who are they?

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The 8 Biggest Anti-Amazon Prime Day Contenders
Today is Amazon Prime Day if you haven’t noticed. What is Amazon Prime Day? It’s the day that Amazon opens its doors to all its Prime members to get deep discounts on select products, deals, and services. If you’re not a Prime member, you don’t get to enjoy Amazon’s version of “Black Friday in July.” Check out our previous post, 6 Steps to Finding the Best Deals for Amazon Prime Day to find out how you can get the most out of what’s left of this thirty-six hour day of sales. And even if you don’t have a Prime Membership, there are plenty of other retailers looking to take the wind out of Amazon’s sales by offering their own special deals on Amazon’s special day. Who are they? More importantly, how do you take advantage of these deals?

Massdrop

Massdrop is the online home for hobbyists and enthusiasts. From quilting to cooking to technology, Massdrop is geared towards finding and producing top quality products to help you get the most out of your hobby. It’s an online store that’s even more exclusive than Amazon. The good news is that you can join for free to get in on their Anti-Prime Day deals.

eBay

Unlike Amazon, an online retailer, eBay is an online marketplace for people to sell their goods and wares. It may be semantics, but everyone on eBay is a reseller. A very large community of indie stores has set up shop on eBay, more so that Amazon. eBay is free to shop, no special membership required to take advantage of their deals. Right on eBay’s homepage is the Daily Deals button to let you know who’s got sales going on and for how long. Don’t miss it!

Gamestop

Either in their physical stores or online, Gamestop has deals running throughout today and tomorrow. Check their weekly ad and the Deal’s section of their website to find out where the deals are and how to get the most out of them.

B&H Photo

This online retailer focuses on photography and video. This also means they branch out to computers, TVs, camcorders, lighting, and more. Click on their Specials tab to check out B&H’s deals and sales for today.

Google Store

Google, not wanting to be outdone by one of their biggest competitors in the virtual assistant market, has offered for this day as well. Check out their personal store to find their deals. They don’t have a centralized listing of them though, meaning you might have to guess which ones are discounted. It’s not very time efficient. Their products are also discounted in stores as well. To do this you’ll have to search each page individually, on your own internet browser. If you’ve managed to land one of the best internet deals, this shouldn’t be much of a problem.

Razer Game Store

This online game retailer allows you to buy physical copies of your favorite game or download it directly to your platform of choice. Razer has conveniently compiled all their deals and sales on their homepage for you. There’s more available, but the top ones are put on the homepage. There’s no need for a centralized list here!

Target

Some of the deals you’ll find with Target are at their physical stores, and some are online only. Simply visit Target’s homepage, click on the Weekly Ad tab and type in your zip code to find the deals available at your nearest Target store.

Microsoft

Similar to Google, Microsoft hasn’t put together a centralized list of their sales and deals for Amazon Prime Day. Again, you’ll have to search product by product to find out if there’s a deal going on or not.

Some Help

Thanks to sites like The Verge, CNET, PC Mag, and others, there are ongoing lists of deals both on and off Amazon that will help you find the best deals for this day. There are also a host of third-party sites that notify you of deals going on. Simply pick the one you feel most comfortable with and set up which products, or sellers, you want to watch for deals and sales. There’s Tech Bargains, Offers.com, Slickdeals, and much more!

Get a jump on Christmas

It may seem as though Amazon is trying to set up their own special shopping day in the middle of summer, but there are some positives to this whole thing too. For one, Amazon is simply clearing out merchandise for the coming holiday season. As more and more stores are trying to milk Christmas, you’ll start to see holiday selling season start earlier and earlier. Two, you’ll be able to take care of some holiday shopping. It’s a little absurd to be shopping for Christmas now, that’s understandable. Look at it another way, you’re able to take a little stress out of your holidays now by getting a few gifts or items purchased now. Lastly, with Amazon creating this artificial holiday in the middle of summer vacation, other stores are responding to it. This means they’re going to be offering deep discounts and deals to compete with Amazon. And with sellers compete on price, be Amazon, Google, or anyone else, you end up winning!