Joost was founded in 2006 by Scandinavian entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis. They have a track record in bringing new technologies to market: first with their Kazaa file-sharing software, and then with their VoIP product, Skype. In June 2007 Joost named former Cisco senior executive Mike Volpi, also a Skype board member, as its new chief executive, replacing CEO Fredrik de Wahl who remains as chief strategy officer.
Joost is aimed at providing the high quality broadcast TV experience of traditional TV services with the choice, navigation and interactivity of the Internet. Having started life as The Venice Project, the service announced commercial launch on 1 May 2007 when existing Joost beta testers were given an unlimited number of invitations to take part in the beta test that they could send to friends and family. Advertising campaigns from some of Joost’s advertising launch partners also began to play on the platform.
Joost currently has 150 channels with programming across a range of genres including cartoons and animation, entertainment and film, sports, comedy, lifestyle & documentaries, and sci-fi. The content focus is mainstream as opposed to niche or ‘long tail’. The availability of channels and programming varies by geographic region based on copyright ownership, with most programming already available to viewers in the US. Joost says it is adding international, regional and local content partners.
The service will make use of Web 2.0 features to enable interactivity and a community-driven environment. Viewers can already build a preferred list of channels. Advanced television viewing features such as links to more information or related websites based on the content will be offered. A number of applications will also be provided including instant messaging, message boards and news tickers.
The service is based on peer-to-peer technology used by file-sharing services (such as Kazaa), which makes it possible to distribute video to millions of people over the Internet more cost-effectively than traditional streaming or downloading. It runs on a secure Internet platform that enables interactive, advertising-supported, video streaming while providing copyright protection for content owners and creators. Users download a piece of software to their PC. Once installed, anyone with broadband connection can view the service on their PC.
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