Walmart pushes deeper into digital content

Walmart Inc. is going Hollywood. The world’s largest retailer has formed a joint venture with a startup, Eko, to develop original, interactive programming, including cooking shows and toy catalogues, and will acquire an undisclosed stake in the company, according to a statement Thursday.

Walmart also will invest more than $200 million with Eko, a person with knowledge of the matter said, and has agreed to take part in its next funding round.

Walmart is already one of the world’s largest sellers of movies and TV shows through its retail outlets and online stores. Now the Bentonville, Ark.-based company wants to coax more of its customers to watch videos and read books using its array of web properties. Walmart operates the online video service Vudu, as well as an e-book platform.

“Customers are spending a lot of their time in the digital world, and we want to be a player with respect to our customers’ daily digital habits,” said Scott McCall, Walmart’s head of entertainment. “Customers drive by Walmart stores several times a day. We want to them drive by our digital footprint several times a day.”

Eko and Walmart are still settling on the details of what they will make together, but the output will include short-form and longform programming, McCall said. Those programs will be available on Walmart properties, as well as on social media and other services.

Programs could invite viewers to buy products from Walmart’s stores, and could range from advertisements and web series to TV and movies. The retailer has no interest in being a studio that produces programming, but wants to pay other studios to make shows.

Founded in 2010 as Interlude, Eko has spent the last eight years developing interactive forms of storytelling that blend movies and video games. Eko possesses more than 15 patents for its technology.