TechCrunch reports that this week Amazon launched Amazon Video Direct. This service allows creators to upload their own videos to Amazon’s Prime Video and generate royalties based on the hours streamed. Creators must fill out tax information and link a bank account, plus create pages for their series and provide artwork for display. They can choose to include shows in Amazon Prime, streamed free with ads, rented, sold or any combination.
Amazon video is available in Japan, the UK, Austria, Germany and the US. Variety reports Amazon will pay creators 50% of retail, 55% of ad-supported free streaming and 15 cents per hour streamed in on Prime in the US, 6 cents per hours streamed elsewhere, capped at $75,000. The top 100 titles get paid a monthly bonus.
It seems like Amazon is looking to take on the big players in the user generated content services like YouTube.
