Crazy:
Digg this Blog
Share on Facebook
WatchMojo on Twitter
WatchMojo on YouTube
Add to Favorites
WatchMojo NewsletterI probably did hundreds of SWOT analysis when I was in business school, but never did one for WatchMojo.com.
With online video aggregator Joost shutting down today, and YouTube co-founder Steve Chen leaving Google, I thought the following SWOT analysis I created for a potential hire would be interesting to online video industry followers.
The following SWOT focuses on professional video content. Enjoy, comments and questions welcome.
SWOT -
Quincy Jones gets it:
“Print and all that stuff is over, we gotta remember that,” Jones said. “The Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Post Intelligencer. The Miami Herald. They’re over the same way as the record business. We have got to get into this century.”
The Ten Commandments are recognized as the moral foundation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They also serve as the basis for many judicial systems around the world. Today however, I will be focusing on a specific commandment, namely number VIII on the infamous stone tablets Moses schlepped down Mount Sinai: Thou Shalt Not Steal.
A few weeks ago I stumbled onto a blog developed by two former ad execs, Jon Noel & Adam Kubik. Now, this isn’t your typical Perezite Hilton, celebrity gossip site… StealOurIdeas.com is creativity with a sense of humor, media relevance and political flare.
I had a chance to ask Jon & Adam a question, here’s what they had to say:
WM.com:
“So guys, what if someone wanted to steal one of your ideas and use it in a campaign?”
Jon & Adam:
“…we’d of course hope they’d either give us credit or compensate us, but it’s up to them. There are a lot of reasons we’re doing the site and money & fame aren’t too high on the list. It’s similar to why does a graffiti artist leaves his mark on a wall if no one knows who he is. We needed a creative outlet that we weren’t getting from the ad world so we started this site in response to some of the problems with the industry. We’re having fun with it, and people seem to enjoy it as well; so we’re going to keep it up as long as we can.”
Not only do they freely allow advertisers and agencies to steal the ideas posted on their blog, but they even allow people to submit creative briefs, which they will develop into a custom idea just for you. Briefs can be emailed to Stealourideas@gmail.com.
So if one day you find yourself with a mental block lasting longer than Moses and his posse’s trek through the desert, send Jon & Adam a quick note and you should expect to receive the creative equivalent of manna…
Joost will now offer a white-label version of its software and lay off some folks, including CEO Mike Volpi.
We signed a distribution deal with Joost before they launched, we were very proud to be a part of their roster (read more in my post at the time called: Joost what does WatchMojo.com Have in Common with Viacom, CNN, Turner, Sony, CBS, Warner Music Group and the NHL?)
We were equally proud to sign a deal with hulu, who also put our premium content alongside super premium content from traditional media companies.
The difference, however, is that Joost has left a trail of bizarre decisions and mismanagement. I never said anything, because they were a partner, but today’s news shows that bad decisions have an eventual cost, especially in a very competitive and cluttered marketplace.
For more on that, read:
- Online Video Distribution: The Race for #3 is On…(November 23, 2007)
- Online Video Aggregators: The Fight to Avoid Obsolescence is On (April 6th 2009)
The problem is that Joost was dead on arrival, let alone November 2007 (not 2008, 2007 folks!) when I wrote that first article. By the second article (April 2009), I was wondering why Joost was still burning through VC funds?
The problems really ran across the board:
- the only thing Joost had going for itself was the sleek player, but that initially required a download, making it dead on arrival.
- a bigger problem was that its founders had success disrupting traditional industries, not enabling them.
- the biggest problem, was that Joost’s mid-level people did not really seem to get content either. We had short form 1-3 minute clips that they asked us to re-edit into long form content. You know, the kind that online audiences are running away from TV.
- advertising: they secured big name advertisers (due to their pedigree, perhaps) but failed to have any volume… because they failed to have any traction.
- too much money: read News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch’s bio, in it, he keeps talking about not having enough capital (yes, that Rupert Murdoch), ditto MySpace. Over time, more money doesn’t prove to do anything but create more problems.
All to say, this reinforces the main theme: financiers don’t know anything about the video industry online, which remains a media and not technology space.
PLAY
