Overstock to launch streaming, on demand video
Soon, while you're shopping for a new sofa or a silk bathrobe on Overstock.com, you'll be able to take in a rom-com, too. The online retailer announced Tuesday at the annual NAPTE conference in Miami that it will be entering the video on demand and streaming business by the middle of the year.
But why would you go to O.co for flicks?
"We think it makes perfect sense," said CEO Patrick Byrne. "Unlike some OTTs ["over-the-top" providers of online media] which have the platform and are trying to drive traffic, we have this tremendous traffic -- we're just trying to figure out what it is they're looking for next."
Byrne said that with as many as eight million visitors to the site in a day, Overstock has robust data on what movies people are searching for. (The site's books, movies, music and games section is nestled quietly under the "More" category in the navigation bar.) He claimed they can identify 500 to 1,000 titles that would represent 80 to 90 percent of demand.
Byrne plans to start with a download-only service for users to rent or buy movies by the middle of the year, then add a narrow streaming service comprising only this selection of highly-sought movies.
"We had 40 million visitors in December. We can see what movies it is they're searching for, so we don't need to start with ... this huge breadth of 20 or 50,000 titles," Byrne explained.
The service is a direct play at Amazon's Prime Instant Video, which Byrne thinks is ripe for a challenge. "The industry will want to see a competitor to Amazon for across-the-board digital distribution."
He pointed out that in Internet Retailer's ranking of "mass merchant web-only retailers," Overstock is number two behind Amazon, and that his company's loyalty program is "way better" than Amazon Prime.
He said that Overstock is partnering with a company that already has content rights agreements with "all the major studios," though he was not ready to reveal any names. Initially the service will focus on existing content, but the platform is "friendly to original content." (An article in "The Onion" parodied this very thing in 2013. The headline: "Overstock.com Announces Plans to Develop Original Programming.")
Byrne has already received a pitch for an Overstock reality show.