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Does CTO's departure mark the beginning of the end for Joost?

21 January 2008 21:43 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 3 comments

Last Thursday BBC Future Media and Technology Group Controller Erik Huggers announced the hring of Joost CTO Dirk-Willem van Gulik as the division's Chief Technical Architect. van Gulik will be taking over the position in February. He will be succeeded at Joost by former Comcast and Cisco executive Matt Zelesko.

Just a few months ago Joost was in the enviable position of having "legitimate" online video from television networks, as well as a lot of buzz surrounding their beta, which promised free "broadcast quality" online television viewing. Since then, however, it seems to have quickly faded into obscurity, overshadowed by direct offerings from network websites, new services like the joint venture from NBC Universal (NBCU) and News Corp. called Hulu, and more recently Apple TV.

As Joost attempts to re-energize their service with a new CTO and plans for a second base of technical operations in the U.S. it seems fair to ask what kind of future the company has. Last July they boasted of having "1 million viewers," although this most likely equates to the number of people who have downloaded their player, rather than those actually using the service on even a semi-regular basis.

Since that time there has been a lot of talk about online video, and yet Joost seems like little more than a footnote. A number of websites have appeared that either index or directly stream video offerings from other sites rather than providing the content themselves. With no need to make arrangements with content owners these services grow every time more content becomes available online.

The Joost service remains officially in a beta state, despite the client being ready for full release and available to anyone who's interested. Meanwhile they seem to be falling behind as consumers demand, and in some cases are beginning to get content that can be downloaded for later viewing. It's difficult to imagine the average consumer getting excited about anything less than that, especially with the seemingly daily of DVRs that are almost standard equipment for TV viewing.

Despite all of these potential problems, don't write Joost off just yet. Founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom are still favorites in traditional media circles, a fact that's helped them establish a dynamic assortment of both past and current TV shows, and even some independent films. Joost isn't the first unlikely service the pair has been behind either. You may have heard of the fruits of their earlier effort, a little service called Skype.

With the addition of Zelesko, who has experience with a large Cable Television provider like Comcast, there's certainly hope for Joost. Whether that will translate into a successful service has yet to be determined.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Online video

TidalTV brings look and feel of TV to your web browser (18 June 2008)

Velocix to begin live streaming TV, compete with Joost (27 March 2008)

Hulu is now open to the public (12 March 2008)

Hulu set to launch tomorrow (11 March 2008)

NBC Universal streams vintage TV from network websites (23 February 2008)

Low end ATI cards add HD DVD, Blu-ray playback (23 January 2008)

U.S. viewers continue to embrace online and mobile video (28 December 2007)

NBC online video moves to the Hulu private beta (29 October 2007)

Viacom puts 13,000 Daily Show clips online (19 October 2007)

Joost boasts 1 million subscribers (29 July 2007)

Joost founders get warm reception at media conference (12 July 2007)

Joost to premiere new VH1 comedy (8 July 2007)

Joost working on embedded support for TVs and cellphones (18 June 2007)

Joost named as defendant in StreamCast lawsuit (22 May 2007)

Joost raises $45 million USD (10 May 2007)

Joost gets Warner Bros content (9 May 2007)

Joost signs up 31 advertisers (29 April 2007)

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banned2X (Inactive) 22 January 2008 14:37
Joost is such garbage. It's all homemade tv with a few T&A channels (like the Diana wet t-shirt) which of course I don't mind because I have a edited by ddp. Other than that, how can it even be compared to NBC online or network tv made available online. Joost's success matters NOT! [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18 February 2008 12:57
banned2X (Inactive) 22 January 2008 14:41
Oh..............and as for Zelesko having "experience" with Comcast...........well..............'nough said. They are a failure as the worst cable company in the country with the highest prices and worst customer service. They are only credited with succeeding for the same reason as all others that are sub-par...................can you say "mon-op-oly". Rid the consumer of choice and we will take what we can get. Deregulate and we will take what we CHOOSE. American business SUCKS!!!!! (And I'm an American) [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 18 February 2008 1:21
*Quote:* Last July they boasted of having "1 million viewers," although this most likely equates to the number of people who have downloaded their player, rather than those actually using the service on even a semi-regular basis. I love this. Its soo true i have downloaded it tried to use it one and it did not work and i uninsta;;ed it the first chance i got :P [ + quote]