Yahoo To Introduce Its Own Version Of YouTube

AdAge has reported that Yahoo is about to launch a new video service geared to compete with YouTube. The company has apparently been approaching many popular YouTube creators with promises of larger revenue splits in an effort launch with some significant names and content.

The company has wanted to enter into the video business for some time. Last year it launched an unsuccessful campaign to acquire DailyMotion, and CEO Marrissa Mayer has stated several times that she felt the company needed to increase its video presence in order to succeed.

Like on YouTube, content creators can reportedly start their own channel, and will have access to a dashboard that enables them to publish across all Yahoo assets like the home page and Tumblr. The company isn't requiring an exclusive deal though, as anyone with a Yahoo channel can also post on YouTube or any other video platform as well.

There is a big stumbling block, however, in that Yahoo's current agreement with content creators states that the company be given a perpetual license to any videos that are shared on Tumblr, which effectively transfers the video's ownership rights to Yahoo. One would assume that this language will be stricken from the final agreement before the service is launched, since most veteran content creators would simply ignore the service if it remained as is.

While it's nice to have another service in the online video mix, don't expect too much from Yahoo Video. The company has a long history of screwing up good ideas, so the odds are good it will happen again.

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