Friday, September 28, 2007

Joost Boosts Interface and Sports Content

Online TV network/application Joost has updated its user interface and has signed deals with sports leagues to add to its content roster. While Joost's Skype pedigree has given the company incredible buzz, Veoh is now a close second as the "most likely to replace YouTube" category.

The new user interface of Joost is more Web 2.0-ish, according to Efluxmedia. The company also grabbed a deal to stream the baseball post season games after they are over to all of the world -- unless you live in the biggest markets for baseball, namely the U.S. and Japan. So that leaves Latin America, Korea, Canada and Australia as baseball-friendly countries that can see the games via Joost.

I'm surprised that the protective MLB granted rights outside of its own website, but I guess they are comfortable with Joost's ability to lock out geographies. We'll be seeing more of companies using online to target areas where TV can't reach. Joost will also broadcast games from the Canadian Football League.

Joost is slick, but it requires a large application download to take advantage of the peer to peer technology, and you can only see programs that the company has licensed.

Veoh, on the other hand, can grab any kind of content, so it could have broader appeal. Both companies have a chance to become profitable in their own niches, but Veoh is the more likely to have a chance at surpassing YouTube as a market force. Game on!

Posted By John Gartner at 11:08 AM
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