Yahoo might be building an online video platform, but you won't be able to use it

Yahoo's reportedly planning to launch a web video platform in the next few months, and it intends to fill it with familiar faces and professionally made clips. How? By poaching some of YouTube's biggest stars, at least according to Recode. The website's sources say Mayer and her crew are trying to win over popular YouTubers with the scent of money. Yahoo's apparently offering them (presumably) large guaranteed rates or bigger ad revenues for their videos, in an attempt to benefit from YouTube users' increasing discontent about how little they're earning on the platform. The company even promised them extensive marketing and the chance to promote their clips on Yahoo's well-trafficked home page.

Before you prepare to switch platforms, know that Yahoo's video service supposedly won't be open to everyone. If what Recode's saying is true, it won't be like YouTube where anyone can upload anything, even grainy, vertical clips -- it'll be exclusive to famous video creators the company's currently handpicking. The website's sources claim, however, that Yahoo will either develop its own content management system or acquire an existing video service like Vimeo in order to make the service available to more people after a year. They also say that this is second phase in Yahoo's plans to make it big in the web video space, with the launch of the company's Screen app for iOS being the first. With video being huge these days, we wouldn't be surprised if Yahoo's truly taking a crack at it in an effort to regain its losses.

Via: Recode