YouTube may have a tough competitor in the battle of for video content and it’s one the Internet’s institutions --- Amazon.com, one of the original dotcoms that have managed to withstand to test of times and competition from many start ups. From books to being the Internet’s biggest shopping site, Amazon has expended to video to compete against Netflix and audio to compete against the likes of Spotify with its Prime Service.

But now, Amazon is setting its sights on YouTube and wants content creators to upload their videos on Amazon Video Direct.

What’s more? Content creators can choose how to earn royalties based on the hours their video is streamed by Prime members, who pay a premium to avail of this special service from Amazon. It can be based on rentals, monthly subscriptions, purchases, or ad impressions or a combination of these. OptimusPrime is one member and he is excited what content airsofters may upload in this service.

It is no joke to produce some good content for online viewing. It is not always mounting your GoPro and then start running around with your airsoft gun to tally all the hits you’ve made on the field. The more serious airsoft channels do make some planning to do, storyboard, multiple cameras, video editing, sound editing, and of course the bandwidth to upload the video on a video content service such as YouTube and Vimeo. It takes time and money to come up with good content, even in airsoft. Having a revenue stream or streams to help pay for production and put some money into their pockets will be a great help.

For airsoft video makers looking for other sources of revenue apart from sponsorships and ad revenues from YouTube, Amazon Video Direct can offer attractive proposition:

“Amazon will distribute a share of $1,000,000 per month as a bonus to the Top 100 titles included with Prime through Amazon Video Direct. This bonus—based on global customer engagement—is incremental to revenue earned from hours streamed, rentals, purchases, monthly subscriptions, and ad impressions. All of your titles included with Prime are automatically eligible.”

It can be tough to break into the Top 100 if more professional video makers join in this service and even PewDiePie might want to have his videos on Amazon Video Direct. So if you think your airsoft video is something worthwile for Amazon Prime members to watch, then why not give it a go?

With YouTube being the dominant platform for user generated video content, Amazon Direct will have to work hard and may need to focus on quality video content creators to get some traction, or adopt the same free-for-all approach of YouTube. At least Amazon.com has the infrastructure to match YouTube.

Amazon Video Direct will be initially available in the U.S., Germany, Austria, UK and Japan. It can be accessed by Amazon Prime members on all supported devices—Fire TV, phones, tablets, game consoles, Smart TVs and from the Web.