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The US retailer Walmart will partner with Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) to create content for its video streaming platform Vudu. Walmart, which acquired the video streaming platform eight years ago, is trying to strengthen Vudu’s position in the highly competitive market by increasing the number of monthly subscribers. In this respect, the platform is still lagging behind competitors such as Netflix, Huli, Comcast and 21st Century Fox.

According to the media, Walmart aims to build a strong platform that successfully combats Netflix, creating plenty of attractive video content to attract a large number of users.

The company continues to look for options to attract customers living outside of major cities, where this type of service is still not so popular.

Walmart and MGM will make a statement during a conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It will also include the announcement of the first co-production to be broadcast from the platform.

“In connection with this partnership, MGM will create exclusive content based on the studio’s rich movie library, and this content will be broadcast exclusively on the Vudu platform”, said Walmart’s director for Corporate Communications, Justin Rushing. “The focus of this partnership will be on Walmart’s family audience”, added he.

Licensed content is an effective strategy at a time when the broadcasting of original content is a costly endeavor. As early as July, Netflix said it has spent 8 billion USD on original content. Amazon’s Prime Video budget amounted to 4 billion USD, while HBO, which is owned by AT&T, said it had spent 2.7 billion USD in creating video content.

Walmart acquired Vudu in 2010 to protect itself from the decline in DVD sales, moving to the more current and dynamic online streaming video market.

The US giant’s platform, however, is not yet a particular threat to the big names in the business that dominate this digital segment.

Vudu offers about 150,000 titles that can be hired or purchased and its free service Movies On Us includes 5,000 movies and TV shows.