Potential effects of the Maven and Joost shutdowns

Tuesday was a rather grim day in the online video space, as two very well funded companies, Maven Networks and Joost, announced they both basically are shutting down.

While Maven Networks supposedly will provide back end support to parent Yahoo!'s consumer video plays and online video advertising, reports indicate that Yahoo! has never used Maven tech for either service and is basically shuttering the company it paid $160 million for just 18 months ago (do you think the Maven valuation drew an F-bomb from Carol Bartz when she got a look at the books?). Joost, on the other hand, says it will continue to sell its back-end video technology for media companies that want to add an online video offering and need it turned up quickly. But to do that, the company needs only a fraction of its employees, and reports put the coming layoffs at Joost at more than 100.

So who stands to gain the most from these developments?

Start-up Delve Networks literally beat down my door trying to get a statement in about a program it's offering to support Maven customers transitioning to Delve's platform free of charge. Brightcove had no comment, but you know they'll try to win any of Maven's media customers they can. thePlatform would not comment directly on Maven's demise, but Marty Roberts, vice president of marketing, did say that "despite setbacks by some, we remain very optimistic about the future of the growing online video market." He said the company anticipated shake-ups like this one, and "challenges for many companies in the space." What kind of challenges? Like being a video company bought by Yahoo!? See Jumpcut, Y!Live and Maven for more info on that one.

Other video platform companies could pick up Maven customers as well, but there won't be enough to go around if the company is getting gutted. Look for each of the top video platforms to take a few solid accounts each as Maven's service gets wound down.

Joost, on the other hand, never recovered from challenges by browser-based video plays like YouTube and Hulu, and really doesn't get enough market share to cause any other site to get that excited about winning its customers. One potential upside for Joost and its investors: Time Warner Cable and Comcast did take a look at acquiring the company, which would make more sense for TWC than Comcast, as Comcast also owns thePlatform. Joost's technology could still be picked up by another company, but not for anything close to the $45 million in venture funding the company has received.

As always, let me know what you think via email or twitter.

- Pete
@fierceonlinevid