Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

While assessing the coverage of the launch of Amazon Video Direct—Jeff “Mr. Everything Store” Bezos’ gutsy challenge to YouTube—the figure $3 billion jumped out at me. That’s how much industry analysts estimate Amazon spends on video each year in its relentless drive to dominate on a playing field where YouTube, Facebook, Hulu and myriad others have plenty of pixels in the game. 

Amazon’s multibillion-dollar appetite for video supremacy also includes cable companies as rivals. The product delivery giant recently began to offer its Amazon Prime streaming service, initially available only to those paying $99 a year for a Prime membership, as a standalone, for a $9 monthly fee, a buck less than Netflix. It’s also been cutting deals with myriad players and is eventually expected to offer a tailored bundle of programming services in a so-called “skinny bundle” package to lure the cord-shavers and cutters. 

Yesterday’s Amazon Direct launch is a typically straight shot from the Bezos playbook. It puts a laser focus both on those who create the content, and on the customer experience. In contrast to YouTube, Amazon Direct is allowing those who make the videos to distribute and profit in a variety of ways, including: making their content available to Prime Video subscribers and receiving a per-hour royalty fee; offering them as rentals or sold as subscription through its Streaming Partners Program; and putting the videos up for digital rental or purchase. Producers can also opt to offer videos free in an ad-supported model with a 55% share of revenues—same as YouTube.