Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

GigaOm.com had an exclusive this morning on how Joost, the P2P video distribution service, is going to kill its desktop client - the official announcement from Joost has to be made. Joost is abandoning its downloadable software is favor of launching a  “browser-only” player, a similar path being taken by Veoh and Jaman.

The Joost desktop client was launched last year to much fanfare and buzz…however user-adoption, content and technical issues seemed to doom the client from the start. The soon to launch browser based service will rely on the same Joost P2P technology but will work through a embedded plug-in.  The utilization of a plug-in will allow for higher quality video and a faster experience when compared to other video search engines.

Personally I was a huge fan of the desktop client and the possibilities in brought in terms of expanding into the multi-screen / device space,  but I became disappointed in the lack of content and soon it became just another icon on my desktop.  Basically Joost, and other companies that offered the desktop client, were ahead of their time. The general online public was and is not ready to consume mass video content in this manner.  Right now the growth, and attention, are on web-based video destinations like Hulu, Fancast, TheWB and numerous others. The growth of people coming online to consume professionally produced long-form is only starting to be realized. As more and more people come to rely on their computer for watching this type of video content, pushing them to a desktop client - which offers more control, functionality and technical flexibility - is the next logical step for video (2-3 years away). The desktop client can then extend to set-top boxes and create a truly a seamless online-to-computer-to-television experience.

Meanwhile TechCrunch has a sneak peek at Joost’s new browser based  P2P video service. It looks awesome from what I can tell, I especially like the “social” integration. However, no matter how cool the service, when it comes to video it is all about content, content content.

• Hulu continues to show online video websites how to do it
• Joost looking to embed its video-playing software into consumer hardware
• Simple but AWESOME flash game - Desktop Tower Defense
• Joost Comes Out of “Private Beta”
• Joost To Launch By End Of Year - Has A Million + Beta Testers