Yahoo Versus YouTube? Marissa Mayer’s Latest Plan For Yahoo

Since Marissa Mayer’s takeover in 2012, Yahoo has been searching for ways to revamp and grow its business. They’ve redesigned several Yahoo platforms and made some large acquisitions as well, like that of the blogging site Tumblr in 2013. What will be Yahoo’s next big move though? Well from reports it seems like Mayer maybe be developing a competitor for the web’s main video giant, YouTube.

Yahoo’s Video Aspirations

Mayer’s Yahoo first showed interest in video services last year when they began talks with Dailymotion. Dailymotion is a France-based video sharing site, and it looked like Yahoo was keen to purchase the platform, attempting to purchase a 75% stake in the european company. However, the talks eventually fizzled between the two companies.

There have since been rumours about Yahoo’s intention to grow it’s own platform from the ground up or to make another attempt to purchase an already constructed video service, the site Vimeo has often been at the center of speculation for a potential acquisition.

Now however, reports have emerged that Yahoo is in fact in talks with a video service, though not Vimeo. Instead, they are reportedly considering acquiring News Distribution Network (NDN). NDN is a video distribution service which does not make any of its own video content but hosts videos and offers them to several news services and sites like the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg for instance. Such a purchase by Yahoo could not only expand the reach of their current video content but also aid them in growing an entire platform of their own.

Taking A Cue From YouTube, And Some Talent Too

While having a viable platform to host video content is obviously critical to such a service, in order to compete with Google’s YouTube Yahoo is going to have do a lot more work, like producing content that will actually bring in viewers.

It seems like Yahoo is already making moves towards this goal as well,  it’s been rumored that the company has been talking with major YouTube stars and production companies alike. Yahoo is reportedly promising these creators more money, through better ad revenues likely, as well as the potential for greater exposure, like a spot on the Yahoo frontpage.

Who these major YouTube creators actually are however is still under wraps. Yet, if Yahoo actually manages to lure such talent away from YouTube they may have some chance at producing some sort of competitor for YouTube’s unrivaled share of online video.

Just Another Youtube? Probably Not, For Yahoo’s Sake

Yahoo ‘s idea for a video platform isn’t exactly that of YouTube, which allows anyone to upload content to the site sharing things from animal videos, to family moments, or music. Yahoo is reportedly instead going after a more catered video service, in which it produces content, along with its partnered personalities, for viewers instead of simply hosting their videos. So don’t expect a slew of videos showing peoples’ attempts at eating spoonfuls of cinnamon, “fail” videos, or the ever-popular cat videos, which can all be found in droves on YouTube.

What form Yahoo’s rumoured video platform will eventually take however and when it will come about, if at all, is yet to be seen. Even more so, its potential to take on Google and YouTube remains unclear. Also, whether or not this latest venture of Mayer’s will amount to any actual growth for Yahoo is equally up in the air, and will certainly take a large push to do so.