For the last time: Joost is not a YouTube competitor

Stan Beer
Sunday, 06 May 2007 17:26

Opinion and Analysis

Now that Joost, the peer-to-peer Internet TV service, is about to burst out of beta and onto computer monitors around the world, comparisons of the new service to YouTube still crop up in the media. The fact is, however, Joost and YouTube are not competitors - they are distinct forms of web-based video entertainment.

Joost, the brainchild of Skype and Kazaa founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, is basically web TV with some social networking features added on like instant messaging, chat, blogging et al. The service, presents licensed TV content, funded by commercials, to geographically segmented regions around the world. Users in the US can view content licensed to the US region, users in the EU can see content licensed for that region and so on.

Content providers, such as Viacom, love Joost unlike YouTube. Joost is not a video sharing site like YouTube. The Joost service only serves up content licensed from major content providers - just like TV except you choose when to watch a particular show. There is no facility - at least at present - to post your own videos to the site like YouTube.

Another major difference is that Joost is a desktop application that users need to download to access the service, similar to Skype and other instant messaging programs. YouTube requires no application downloads and is purely a web based service. If any loading is going to be done by YouTube visitors it usually will involve uploading a video to the site.

There is no comparison between the video quality of Joost and YouTube. The proprietary Joost service serves up excellent full screen TV quality video, while YouTube based on Adobe Flash provides at best an average viewing experience. However, for the majority of YouTube users, video quality is irrelevant provided it is acceptable.

Many if not most of the YouTube videos are amateur productions made at home by users for the benefit of friends. Some of the videos contain unlicensed copyrighted content, such as taped music sound tracks. Some of the videos are illegally copied videos containing 10 minute segments of TV shows and movies. This upsets content providers such as Viacom. However, most users don't visit YouTube to watch TV, while Joost will exclusively attract TV watchers.

To make the distinction clear: Joost is a new way of accessing an old form of entertainment on the web while YouTube is a totally new form of entertainment developed exclusively for the web. Both forms of entertainment will be popular (YouTube already is) and both have their place, but they are not competitors.