Amazon Goes After YouTube With New Online Video Posting Service (bloomberg.com)

Spencer Soper, writing for Bloomberg (edited and condensed): Amazon will let people post videos to its website and earn money from advertising, royalties and other sources, putting the company in more-direct competition with Google's YouTube. Amazon already offers movies and television programs over the Internet -- including its own original productions -- to compete with Netflix. The new product dubbed Video Direct will let Amazon give consumers more options about what to watch without an upfront fee because many of those posting videos will be paid based on how their content performs. Competing streaming services have been driving up the cost of this material. Amazon used a similar strategy to boost its inventory of electronic books through Kindle Direct Publishing, which lets authors bypass traditional publishers and reach readers directly by posting and selling their own e-books online. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said the service is designed for "professional video producers," but its only requirements are that the videos be high definition and have closed-captioning for the hearing impaired.The company is offering 15 cents for every hour of viewing a video creator's content via Prime Video in the U.S, and six cents an hour for views outside of the U.S. Content creators can also allow Amazon to show their videos to any visitor for free. In such case, Amazon says it is offering 55 percent of all ad revenue their clips generate. Content creators can also sell their videos via its subscription service, or its rental its store -- in which case, Amazon will offer 50 percent of the revenue. YouTube has been long criticized for paying less to YouTube creators, forcing many to leave the platform, or look for alternate revenue channels.

Comments

What about Vimeo?

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

There's more options out there than "YouTube or nothing".

Amazon Prime requirement.

[Anonymous Coward]

"This video is reserved exclusively for prime members." - coming soon to their exciting new video service.

What next?

[Archangel Michael]

Is Amazon going to form its own "Social Networking" too?
Is Amazon going to form its own Search Engine?
Is Amazon going to form its own Email services?

Doing the "Me Too" thing now, is like closing the barn doors long after the horses have left.

Re:I wonder if it'll be abused like Kindle Direct

[110010001000]

So it is a competitor to CNN and Fox News?

Too late

[LichtSpektren]

Everybody's already uploaded everything to YouTube, and the service is really good--all you need is an adblocker and it's just about perfect. Why would anybody switch to Amazon?

Re:Too late

[Ferocitus]

Everybody's already uploaded everything to YouTube, and the service is really good--all you need is an adblocker and it's just about perfect. Why would anybody switch to Amazon?

Because your MySpace friends told you that's where all the cool AOL people hang out?

Marketing

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh boy, a service with a 5 syllable name that shortens to "VD". That should help with consumer uptake. "I got VD and I want to share it with all my friends!"

Re:What's a Servicex?

[OakDragon]

Ask your OB/GYN.

Seems like it would not work

[pablo_max]

When I think of Amazon, I think of buying stuff online. Perhaps even the upcoming new Top gear.
I cannot imagine thinking...hey.. I'll go to amazon a look at lol catz.
There is no way they can compete with youtube. Just like there was never any chance that google+ was going to take off. People think of Google as the place to go to search for what you want or to get your email, but not to post social media.
Same is true for Amazon and personal content.
Hell, I am even a Prime member and have not watched a single show their site. Why? Because while they have loads of shows, nearly everything I want to see is "extra" and I will never pay 3 dollars to watch a single episode of a TV show. Ever.
Maybe if it was like 10 cents, but 3 bucks? Nope.
And most folks I know think the same.
Youtube for random videos and Netflix or Hulu for streaming.
Though... I would use amazon to buy the router I would use to connect to those other services.

Vimeo Guidelines rule out several uses

[tepples]

Vimeo's guidelines reject certain categories of video entirely.

• "Upload only videos you created yourself" rules out videos created by a minor child or videos uploaded by someone acting on behalf of an author without unmetered or at least 100 GB/mo broadband.
• Users may "showcase your creative work" but not "upload videos with a commercial intent". The guidelines don't make it easy to tell where Vimeo draws the line between the two.

But some older restrictions appear to been loosened:

• For six years (July 2008 through October 2014), the Vimeo guidelines also stated "No screen-captures of video games or gameplay videos", which meant video game reviews must be posted to a service other than Vimeo.
• Until recently apparently, users of iOS and Android were blocked from viewing the video unless the uploader subscribed to Vimeo Plus at the time of the upload.

You mentioned plural "more options out there". Which of said "more options" fills these gaps in what Vimeo allows users to post?

Re:Vimeo Guidelines rule out several uses

[farble1670]

I'm not into posting videos on the Web, so while I'm pretty sure there's more out there than YouTube, Vimeo and Vine, I can't really name any without searching.

Fascinating addition to the thread. Keep up the good work.