A Real YouTube Alternative? Amazon Video Direct Has Creators Mulling Their Options

With the launch of its new YouTube-like service, Amazon won’t be single-handedly destroying YouTube’s digital-video monopoly anytime soon, but with the promise of big payouts for video creators, the major digital-content houses are definitely listening.

“They’ve created a new sandbox for creators to play in,” says Peter Csathy, CEO of the business consulting and legal-services firm Manatt Digital Media. “Creators can now experiment, try different terms, and try things in the context of a very different kind of service that has this underlying commerce component to it.”