Amazon launches new YouTube-like video service, called Amazon Video Direct Tuesday May 10,2016

Amazon launched a service on Tuesday May 10,2016 that allows users to post videos and earn royalties from them, setting up the world's biggest online retailer to compete directly with Alphabet Inc's YouTube.

The service, called Amazon Video Direct, will make the uploaded videos available to rent or own, to view free with ads, or be packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription.

Amazon will pay content creators 50 percent of the revenue earned from rental receipts or sale of the videos, according to the company's license agreement. For ad-supported videos, the creators will get half of the net ad receipts.