Comments
afwriter
5/10/2016 2:26:54 PM
User Rank Platinum
Woah
This took me by suprise. I can't wait to throw a few videos up there and see what happens. If this were any old company I would expect it to fold in a week, but with Amazon backing we could be seeing something big here.
mhhf1ve
5/10/2016 2:44:49 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
It's really interesting to see Amazon try to take on YouTube...
This move sounds a bit more like Vimeo than YouTube, but it's close enough. And I think Amazon has the requisite scale to serve billions of videos like YouTube does, unlike some of the former competitors of YouTube that didn't have access to Google's massive datacenter infrastructure. This move also will go well with Amazon's Twitch strategy, too, I think.
(I wonder, though, if Amazon will have to create its own version of ContentID and annoying copyright policing tech to takedown uploads from babies dancing to pop music, etc.)
afwriter
5/10/2016 3:03:03 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
@mhhf1ve
Good point, I hadn't even thought about that. I have a feeling that it will start out rather lax on purpose, but tighten down as time goes on.
mhhf1ve
5/10/2016 3:41:42 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
> "I have a feeling that it will start out rather lax on purpose, but tighten down as time goes on."
That's just the way Youtube started.. but now that rightsholders know that playbook.. I'm not so sure it will go that way again. Amazon has pretty deep pockets, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some lawsuits being filed ASAP after infringing content is on Amazon's new service.
Amazon might be able to use its Mechanical Turk to try to ban copyright infringement, tho... :P
Ariella
5/11/2016 10:04:20 AM
User Rank Author
Re: Woah
@mhhf1ve the strict copyright enforcement only began after Google took over YouTube. I suppose that its search engine picks up the tags that indicate the video is something someone is still trying to sell or rent. Certain older movies that you'd expect would be off copyright because they are more than 70 years old are still subject to copyright because they are still considered marketable. Many of these used to be on YouTube but are no longer because Warner or some other production house is renting it on that platform. So a search for that video on YouTube will lead to a rental option. Or you sometimes find it listed but only with a URL to direct you to a something suspicious external account that claims to offer that movie to view for free. But several years ago, some of these movies were openly posted on YouTube.
JohnBarnes
5/12/2016 7:26:27 AM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
The existence of a genuine competitor to YouTube is likely to make IP infighting much more complicated; what the big past-content-holders really, really want to avoid is the development of a Fair Use Channel, i.e. one that carries out of copyright content that is still earning, excerpts for clips that fall withing Fair Use (YouTube is a lot tighter than Fair Use guidelines are), archival/library/research copies, and so forth. The YouTube near-monopoly has made it pretty easy to prevent. Emergence of competition may lower entry barriers for niche providers, especially as digitizing tech gets more compact and cheaper than it already is.
mhhf1ve
5/13/2016 3:28:21 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
> "the development of a Fair Use Channel..."
A Fair Use channel would distract eyeballs away from content with royalties, so it would probably be "unfair" competition to the old media gatekeepers. However, I'm not convinced that such a channel would actually be more popular than the stuff put out by Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Dreamworks, Viacom, etc, etc....
JohnBarnes
5/15/2016 2:22:03 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
@mhf1ve,
A Fair Use Channel would not have to become the biggest thing out there to do serious damage to the existing licensed-content providers; just by existing, if using it were at all convenient, it would create downward price pressure and outward content pressure, two things the bigs already have big problems with.
vnewman
5/11/2016 12:38:52 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
It took me by surprise too @afwriter, but then again it does seem like a natural progression or outgrowth since Amazon has already thrown its chips into the video on demand game. It also has the infrastructure to pull it off, so why not?
Ariella
5/11/2016 1:25:06 PM
User Rank Author
Re: Woah
There were more details on this, including the various payment options and incentives for the video providers here:
Amazon has "tens of millions" of Amazon Prime members who get video streaming as part of their shopping and free-shipping subscriptions. Amazon sees video as a way to attract new customers and retain existing ones.
The companies are fighting for the eyeballs of cord cutters, those who cancel cable television subscriptions in favor of video streaming options, and those who never subscribed to cable at all.
To compete on the video game front, Amazon is using Twitch, which it acquired in 2014.
vnewman
5/11/2016 2:35:22 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
Well now what someone needs to develop/promote/sell is a means of uploading your videos to both sites at the same time for maximum exposure. Otherwise you are limiting your viewing audience presuming this actually takes off.
Ariella
5/11/2016 2:41:42 PM
User Rank Author
Re: Woah
@vnewman they'd have to check if Amazon demands exclusive content for the video producers. I know for writing most outlets demand that and would not take at all kindly to a writer duplicating content on multiple sites. That was one of the things that got Jonah Lehrer in trouble even before it was discovered that he made up quotes.
mhhf1ve
5/11/2016 3:08:30 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
> "someone needs to develop/promote/sell .. a means of uploading your videos to both sites.."
There's already a small industry growing to support video creators who want to be the next Pewdiepie (on Youtube) star. So that's already being developed and creating tons of wannabe video stars. It's also happening in Asia countries where chatcam stars are soliciting gifts from viewers and getting corporate sponsorship... And there are also gamer groups training for Twitch competitions and popularizing certain gamers/games...
Turning your "15min of fame" into a business is almost an established business now.
vnewman
5/12/2016 12:53:39 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Woah
@mhhf1ve "Pewdiepie?" I had to look it up. Ok, I know him, but didn't know the moniker. It is supposed to be a take on "cutie pie?"
mhhf1ve
5/10/2016 2:51:46 PM
User Rank Platinum
Who else could try this?
Amazon may be the only cloud service that could really try this.. How many other enormous cloud service providers have the scale that Amazon does for serving video? Netflix runs on AWS already, so Amazon definitely has the technical ability to serve up the traffic. I'm not sure where Hulu is hosted? Could any cableco or telco try to do this (or something similar) without Amazon? (I suppose it could be done with Azure or Rackspace... or Equinix..?)
Looks like Hulu uses Equinix datacenters... hmm...
clrmoney
5/10/2016 3:38:56 PM
User Rank Platinum
amazon brancing out
Amazon has many things to offer so to connect with youtube I thinki will be better for business expansion etc.
srufolo1
5/13/2016 12:50:15 PM
User Rank Platinum
Amazon Direct Video
Amazon Direct Video sounds amazing with users capable of getting royalties for the videos they download. It's an aggressive but smart move on Amazon's part to challenge YouTube in the video space. From a company that started as an online retailer of books to this is a testament to the genius of Jeff Bezos.
dlr5288
5/22/2016 5:55:21 PM
User Rank Platinum
Not a threat
I think it's a great idea for Amazon to expand and keep up with the changing times. It's no surprise that videos are becoming more and more popular. However, I'm not sure they would be a huge threat to YouTube. YouTube is the biggest video provider in the world. It's just been around for so long that its popularity I has grown enormously.
freehe
5/22/2016 10:04:37 PM
User Rank Platinum
Amazon vs YouTube
It is great that Amazon is continually reinventing itself and expanding its market share. However, Amazon is not a threat to YouTube. Amazon will have to provide the service for at least five years to determine if their video service is a contender in the video market.
Also, I don't see any benefit to customers switching from YouTube to Amazon. Amazon is known for selling items for a lower price, not for video. As a video customer I would not switch simply because another company decided to add a new video service to its inventory. I would wait a few years to see how the service fares in the market and to review the quality of the service. Many customers are brand loyal so it will be interesting to see how many new customers Amazon Direct Video gets in the next year.
dlr5288
5/24/2016 3:38:36 PM
User Rank Platinum
Re: Amazon vs YouTube
I completely agree with you.
I don't think YouTube should see Amazon as a huge threat. I also don't see people moving from YouTube to Amazon to catch or upload their videos. YouTube has become extremely popular over the last 5 years and I don't see Amazon being able to compete with it video wise.
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