Truth be told, Joost is nothing like YouTube. Joost is all about TV-length programming, although it can show shorter clips and even feature-length films. Most importantly, Joost is focused on commercial video content, not the user creations that have made YouTube so popular. To wit, you cannot upload content to Joost, making it a "secure" distribution medium in the eyes of many in the entertainment industry. Joost's founders don't have to deal with promises of filtering software or any of the other problems that stem from allowing anyone to "broadcast yourself (or someone else's content)." In this way, the two services are quite different.

This does not mean that YouTube and Joost are not competitors, however. The video advertising market online is very young, and a king has yet to be crowned. YouTube is undoubtedly feeling the heat, as the latest round of talks with Viacom ended rather poorly. Not only could the two sides not reach a deal, but Viacom decided that it would promote its own (Viacom-controlled) video sharing site and promote it vigorously. Similar responses from other major media companies could severely harm the site's ability to become a commercial success.