Amazon adds "Video Shorts" to its Instant Video site

Amazon’s new Youtube-style video service hopes you’ll stick around for some shopping

amazon adds video shorts to instant hq — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Amazon has added a new YouTube-esque portal to its Instant Video site, called “Video Shorts.” The section functions as a hub for brief clips from a variety of topics and categories, such as Beauty How-To, Video Games, and Food & Drink. Though Amazon claims the Video Shorts section was added to its site within the last two weeks, TechCrunch reports that the content within the new subsite has actually been stacking up for quite some time. The giant online seller of goods and services first began adding shorter-length videos last year, and now Amazon has created a dedicated home for the clips.

Additional categories available to choose from within the new area include Popular, Latest, Music Videos, Literature & Books, Movie Trailers, and Technology. Users can access the resource for free and without the need of an Amazon account, Prime-subscribed or otherwise. However, in signature Amazon fashion, the setup of the site appears to be streamlined toward generating consumer purchases.

Say you head into the Actor Interviews area and pull up an interview with Channing Tatum. Amazon has a link to rent or buy a digital copy of Tatum’s 2008 flick Stop-Loss (which the interview is based upon), a link to purchase the physical DVD copy of the movie, and a link to purchase the Kindle edition of Matt LeRouge’s Stop Losses, an “invaluable guide on how to stop your trading losses.” And finally, the least relevant link of them all: the fourth option is for DasGro, a $40 formula for stopping hair loss – see how that works?

Amazon.VideoShorts.screenshot — Image used with permission by copyright holder

One could imagine that, over time, the video options could become more custom-tailored not only to the specific video currently on deck, but also to the particular user’s viewing tastes and purchasing habits. From the creation of its own original series to the Fire TV set-top box, and its new Fire Phone, this is just the latest in a series of moves by Amazon in its effort to challenge just about every vendor of services and products.

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