Written on 30th June 2009
0 COMMENTS Martin Bryant, Co-founder, Social Media Café Manchester
Troubled online video startup Joost has announced a major restructure. Proving just how hard it is to succeed in their market, the company will switch focus from being an ad-funded video platform to a white label solution for businesses.
In a blog post today CEO Mike Volpi announced that although the existing video platform would continue to operate, the company’s primary offering would be backend solutions for media companies wanting to show video on the web. Many staff are being laid off as part of the move, with Volpi himself stepping down as CEO but remaining at the company as Chair of the Board.
Joost has suffered huge challenges in its short life. A year after launching in a blaze of hype in 2007, they switched from using a peer-to-peer based desktop app to a Flash video based solution. The convenience of browser-based viewing had been underestimated by Joost’s management. (more…)
Swedish video advertisement overlay service VideoPlaza has received €420,000 seed investment from Nordic VC Creandum and angels Henrik Torstensson and Magnus Hultman. VideoPlaza has been doing well – partnering up with Sweden’s number-three pay-TV station Kanal 5’s website and two other clients – and operates in a booming market.
CEO Sorosh Tavakoli
The Swedes watch 115% more online videos over the last year, so VideoPlaza has enough content to monetize. The money will be used for international expansion.
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal got two anonymous sources talking about YouTube’s failing advertisement strategy. The video giant generates 10 billion video views a day, but ‘only’ manages to make $200 million a year from advertising. Thus the Google-owned company might introduce pre and post-roll ads, said the sources to WSJ.
This YouTube story symbolizes the need for video sites to monetize their content. VideoPlaza – that offers overlay ads for Flash and Silverlight videos – will be one of many video ad start-ups that receive a financial boost. It’s time for them to fix those crappy business models.
Video service VIDDIX – launched in beta today – found a great way to enrich your online video experience. They allow you to add web content to video, since it consists of two panels. The video is playing at the left, while different web content – such as slides, pictures, YouTube videos, HTML and Flash embeds – shows up in the so-called iPanel at the right. So imagine you interviewed Boris about the Next Web conference, it would look something like this:
The guys from VIDDIX came up with their idea during their study Digital Communications. They graduated on VIDDIX and founded the company Invisios to bring their baby to the market. I hardly see any reasons why their project isn’t gonna be a huge hit. I mean, where YouTube and Slideshare end, VIDDIX is just about to get started. On top of that, the service will probably be really viral, since a lot of bloggers might be tempted to use VIDDIX for screencasts and presentations.
Although they might have to improve their embed function. Since the current one doesn’t bring over VIDDIX’s main advantage, namely the web content. I guess it has something to do with the thing in right bottom corner, yet I can’t figure out. Other from that, I foresee a bright future for VIDDIX.
Written on 30th June 2009
0 COMMENTS 
Troubled online video startup Joost has announced a major restructure. Proving just how hard it is to succeed in their market, the company will switch focus from being an ad-funded video platform to a white label solution for businesses.
Written on 13th July 2008
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
