way of rabbit ears.
Some highly anticipated Web sites are being modeled on making the
experience of watching video online more like watching television.
These sites rely on software that enlarges the interface so that it
fills your computer screen -- from edge to edge.
This new wave of applications is led by Joost and includes VeohTV and
Babelgum. Though all are in beta (testing) phases, the hype has been
mounting -- leading many to claim the next big advance in online video
is imminent.
"The distribution problem is starting to get solved by many different
people, but the experience of online video is still very poor," said
Veoh founder Dmitry Shapiro. "Companies like Veoh and Joost are trying
to create a more TV-like experience for viewers."
Of course, YouTube, which Google Inc. bought for $1.76 billion last
November, is the site that braved the online video path. Though
YouTube offers the option of a full-screen mode, video is typically
watched in a smaller box that can be embedded in other sites.
These new sites, all of which are ad-supported and transmit video with
peer-to-peer technology, are seeking to move beyond YouTube by
improving video quality, attracting professionally produced content
and expanding the viewing experience -- which is to say: to be more
like TV.
Babelgum's slogan is: "TV experience, Internet substance." Veoh touts:
"VeohTV makes watching Internet as simple as watching television."
Joost simply states: "The new way of watching TV."
Each of the three work nearly the same way. You download the
application from the respective Web site. When that's finished, you
have a desktop icon that will launch the application. It then fills
your screen with an on-demand-style choice of videos arranged in near
broadcast-quality channels.
Joost -- founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom (the founders of
the Internet telephone company Skype and the music-sharing service
Kazaa) -- says it has created enough buzz to attract 1 million beta
users.
Joost's strategy has been to sign deals with major content providers,
making copyright lawsuits unlikely. (YouTube, on the other hand, is
being sued by Viacom Inc. for more than $1 billion.) It has inked
deals with Viacom, CBS, CNN, the NHL, Sony and others.
"The early stages of video content on the Internet was a lot of
user-generated stuff, stuff like my grandmother and her cat," said
Joost chief executive officer Mike Volpi. "What we're trying to do is
evolve that experience into something that the viewer doesn't view
just out of interest, but actually builds an affinity with that
particular programming content."
Volpi notes users won't watch long-format video "on a postage
stamp-size thing." But altering viewing habits to watch more than
5-minute clips even on a full-screen application may be difficult.
A poll conducted last September by The Associated Press and Time
Warner Inc.'s AOL found that only one in five online video viewers
have watched or downloaded a full-length movie or TV show.
James McQuivey, a TV and media technology analyst for Forrester
Research, believes people will grow more accustomed to long-form
material as it becomes easier to download it.
But he cautions that Joost is "an evolutionary step, not a revolutionary one."
"If there's anything that Joost does, it moves the ball forward," said
McQuivey. "It tells people that the TV and the PC are not two separate
worlds. But as long as we're still mimicking the TV on the PC, we're
failing to appreciate the value of combining those two worlds."
Babelgum bears many similarities to Joost, but is primarily focused on
video from independent producers, rather than mainstream sources, said
co-founder and CEO Valerio Zingarelli.
Zingarelli said Babelgum also plans to embed its platform in set-top
boxes by the end of 2008, which would make its content viewable on
traditional TV sets. Apple offers such a box for video purchased on
iTunes, and more video companies are expected to follow suit.
Veoh has both a YouTube-like site at Veoh.com and VeohTV, which
Shapiro called a "video browser." Though VeohTV is pursing deals with
the major TV networks and many Hollywood studios, its approach is to
cull all the Internet's free video in one place -- "like Google for
video," said Shapiro. It also allows viewers to record video like a
DVR.
Veoh even took the pre-emptive step of recently suing Universal Music
to bar it from taking legal action against Veoh. Many content
providers would prefer its material to be shown on its own platform,
where it controls the surrounding advertising.
"For the consumer to try to figure out where to find video that
they're interested in and navigate their interfaces becomes extremely
difficult," said Shapiro.
The Internet and television are increasingly being portrayed as on a
collision course, the two destined to fuse within 10-20 years when TV
could become just another form of high-speed data. But those visions
remain relatively far in the future. Online video is still in its
infancy, Shapiro said.
"People are just starting to discover it and understand it," Shapiro said.
Joost, Babelgum and Veoh have several heavyweights to compete with,
including Microsoft's LiveStation, Apple TV and the recently unveiled
Hulu, a joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp.
The analyst McQuivey doubts YouTube should be worried because its
interactivity has "created a social kind of viewing."
Joost, in particular, hopes to accomplish something that similarly
fosters discussion among viewers. Volpi says Joost will blend the
viewing experience with real-time water-cooler conversation.
Joost plans to become available to the public before the end of the
year (to join, readers can go to http://www.joost.com/presents/ap/),
Babelgum is planning to launch in March, and Shapiro expects to keep
VeohTV in beta no longer than a year from now.
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