To succeed companies focused on this model must really behave like agencies, focused on delivering exceptional service and high measurable ROI for clients while keeping their costs low, a tricky thing when measurable success means more eyeballs and the CPMs for online video in most cases aren’t sufficient to cover the distribution costs let alone the cost of player development. (Unless, that is, you’re willing to use Silverlight in which case Microsoft has some money for you).

So for Joost to succeed they need to be able to do at least one of several things very well:

1. Provide a best-in-class player interface; Joost’s key selling point throughout its history (aside from P2P which flopped) has been its design, like it or hate it they have always been leaders in creating an innovative player interface, but it has come at a cost. Joost will need to be able to create innovative user experiences at low cost and be nimble enough to keep adapting to changes in technology with less staff.

2. Strengthen relationships with major partners; Joost has received funding and support from some major media companies and done content deals, mostly small with a slew of others. Joost needs these companies as partners if they are going to succeed. A major deal with one top tier media company could be enough to keep the company running, better yet they could get bought.

3. Control distribution costs; Without being able to do this no online video player solution will be able to offer worthwhile value to its partners. An innovative player solution isn’t enough, that’s what killed Maven. It needs to be low-cost

4. Provide value to advertisers; If consumers aren’t going to pay for content they’re going to need to watch ads, the player must be designed to deliver maximum value for advertisers without putting off users.

To name just a few, the list of competitors in the white label online video market now includes Brightcove, PermissionTV, Kaltura, KickApps, Castfire, The Feedroom, Magnify, Ooyala and Fliqz All of these companies must focus on becoming best-in-class in at least one of these key areas to differentiate themselves and be successful.

Over a post conference drink, he shared his blog post, declaring me the winner of the “best Tweets from the OMMA Video conference” award. Woohoo!!

Great to finally meet you, Nalts!

I offered the panel the proverbial bat to hit any part of the video ecosystem over the head with, to point the finger, to place blame for the lack of online video ad revenue. They only had to choose which part. While none of the panelists took me up on the offer, Tom Cunniff did.

Great insight, Tom!

An ongoing cyberbattle is being waged by Iranian hackers. The Iran Republic News Agency website is currently down, and the battle is not just limited to government and mainstream media outlets. An Iran Election Cyberwarfare Guide for Beginners has been circulating and the blog BoingBoing which recently reposted it was hit with a DDoS attack hours ago.

But while text based communication keeps the Iranian public in touch with the outside world in a time where the State is interfering with Satellite and phone communication and denying access to international journalists where is the use of live video by citizens? YouTube has no shortage of material but it is so easy to capture live using services like Qik why aren’t we seeing more live citizen journalism?

If you know someone over there with access drop us a line.

UPDATE: Here’s one:

The keynote, Google’s Eileen Naughton, was underwhelming. Lots of stats and broad generalizations. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Did you know that 20% of YouTube’s audience is 55+? Me neither. I’m guessing that a lot of people are emailing and forwarding videos to their parents. No commentary on the frequency of those oldies. Oh, and “Fred,” one of YouTube’s most popular series, is generating seven figures.

Then Mike Bloxham and Jim Spaeth presented “Would You Like Some Context With That?” which introduced the Council for Research Excellence’s Video Consumer Mapping Study. Lots of data, and is available on the conference website for you to download and read for yourself. It was an interactive, engaging panel, with two moderators taking questions from the audience throughout. The study is the most extensive observational study of media usage to date. Download it and see for yourself. Again, very broad sweeping conclusions and I’m not sure there was a ton of actionable information presented, but I look forward to downloading the full study and finding out for sure. Directionally, there’s no doubt that there is rapid growth in online video.

Next up was “Show Me The Money” panel, moderated by AdAge’s Mike Learmonth, who did a great job staying out of the way of some heated debate. The general consensus was that money will flow into online video from TV the same way it came in from print. Oh, and people still like watching TV, but would rather watch online than not at all.

The morning wrapped with the obligatory panel on ad formats. And the obligatory bashing of pre-roll. The panel turned into a 45 minute long commercial for “The Pool.” Turns out there are a lot of people working on a lot of ad formats, and very few people willing to share info. In fact, there wasn’t even a demo of any of the new ad formats. But for a taste, head over to Tremor Media’s website and check out their V-Choice formats, which panelist Alan Schulman was instrumental in developing. Whether or not people will engage - or want to engage - with ads is still up for debate. Did I mention that people still think pre-roll sucks? Sad, really. Alan had the most insightful comment of the morning when he said, “I don’t think the industry will sit still long enough to replace the workhorse formats.”

I didn’t mention the “Original Video Content Idea Has Failed” panel since I disagree completely with the notion, and at least Fred Seibert from Next New Networks has proven otherwise.

Overall, though, I’m a bit disappointed. Not in the content of the conference, but in how little the industry has moved over the past two years. Still hunting for best practices. Still looking for formats that work. Still not sure if there’s money in online video. I am impressed, however, with not just the quality of the panelists, but the fact that other than Fred Seibert and Alan Schulman, they are people that I haven’t heard from on the conference circuit very much.

Noticeably missing are the big, name brand sponsors that usually crowd the room. This doesn’t feel like the same people talking to each other as usual, and that’s refreshing. The debate about ad formats, however, is not. The Pool will be sharing data in February. Yeah. It should be outdated by then.

Cynical so far? Yep. Search #ommavideo on Twitter and follow along. Lunch is over, back to the grind.

In one of his first public speeches Chopra laid out his plans for integrating technology as one of the core components in public policy decision making. “America has always been perceived as one of the global capitals for innovation” said Chopra. “We make policy decisions every day…embedded in all of those there is a place to use technological innovation.”

Chopra talked about the massive levels of bandwidth being used by rich internet applications, video and mobile phones today saying that the average PDA uses 30x the bandwidth of a typical phone. As a case in point Chopra told a story about how he uses a lot more bandwidth now that he spends the week in DC away from his wife and two young children and keeps up via picture mail.

In discussing today’s transition to digital TV Chopra described it as an example of how technology is facilitating direct communication with the government. The initial delay was the right move he said, since January the number of unready households has been cut in half.

Today they have “all hands on deck” with a call center (1-888-CALL-FCC) and Americorps volunteers going door to door. DTV he said is a perfect example of the power of technological innovation. ” We can deliver better TV with less spectrum and do other things with that available spectrum.”

And Chopra laid out his 4 Pillars which comprise his innovation platfrom to address the President’s public policy priorities:

1. Harness the power of technological innovation for economic growth.

2. Use technology in several key areas that are key to long term growth namely healthcare, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and education.

3. Ensure the security and reliability of the infrastructure across which information flows while maintaining a platform for economic growth.

4. Bring the concept of retail 2.0 to government; finding innovative ways to make government more efficient.

Chopra said he would create a scorecard based on these four pillars and would track his progress on a scorecard and by blogging regular updates. As the former Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia he urged those working in technology to “embrace the spirit of Commonwealth” to enhance the common good.

The state of Virginia for example recently had a contest for iPhone developers to create applications designed to improve chronically poor algebra skills. Chopra cited Google’s 20% time and urged developers to in their spare time identify the learning gaps and to create applications simply for the common good.

According to Chopra the Government has historically worked with the technology industry in two ways: through R&D (research grants etc) and procurement which has created an “innovation grey area in the middle.” He hopes to be an advocate for technology in areas where it can make government more efficient, something this country has had a need for for a very long time.

Showcasing their roster of online, grassroots artists, DCP filled the room with 500+ rabid fans, eager to see their favorite online stars do their thang on a real stage. For fans that couldn’t make it out to the event, Downloaded was streamed live by LiveStream (formerly Mogulus) so nobody would miss out.

After performances by Tay Zonday, Iman “Alphacat” Crosson, David Choi, Kina Grannis, stand-up comedy from HappySlip, (Follow them on twitter: @davidchoimusic @happyslip @kevjumba @tayzonday) and Interscope recording artist Esmee Denters, the talent stuck around for a meet-and-greet with the fans. The mostly under-21 crowd pushed and screamed for autographs, CDs and to take pictures with their favorite acts of the night. And despite the late hour and travel schedule, they all stuck around to thank every last supporter that came out.

As a case study for growing talent online, Downloaded was a resounding success. Record labels and talent scouts should take notice. Instead of grinding it out in small clubs, playing for 20 people, bands and comedians can work their kinks out online, build an audience, and perform to voracious audiences ready to pay real cash to see them perform live. Even more impressive is the fact that the event was organized in less than two weeks, and promoted by the artists using social media tools and creating their own contests for fans to win tickets.

Will the real world pay real world dollars to see web-grown talent? Hells yeah!

The Panelists:

• Nick Denton, Founder, Gawker Media
• Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and Chairman, Twitter
• Bonnie Fuller, Founder, Bonnie Fuller Media
• Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor Online, The Wall Street Journal
• Craig Newmark, Founder and Customer Service Rep, Craigslist

-Jack Dorsey On Twitter’s evolution and business model:
“The definition for twitter today and for twitter tomorrow is really in the hands of the users…I believe that the concept is simple enough that it will subsist, that it will build value….a lot of what you see in twitter today…it was from the users, for example the @ function…the hash tags…the search engine was something that was outside the company…so we’re treating the business model in the same way.”

We’re going to be patient, we want something to emerge from the usage, we don’t want to put something on top of that.”

On trends in consumption of media:
Craig Newmark: My friends tend to be pretty good at curating the news for me, for me I figure I got some social networking going for people smarter than me doing good stuff.

Nick Denton: Now we have Digg, Facebook, Twitter…there’s less of a premium on that type of aggregation, and I never would have thought I would be saying this but there’s a value on original information and one of the things we’ve seen is the value of producing something original has gone up.

On hiring bloggers / journalists:
Nick Denton: We look for blogging experience above all, it would be very tempting right now there are a lot of people who have been shaken loose from…newspapers and magazines…the sad truth is that a lot of people don’t adjust well to working online.

Alan Murray: Reporters at the Wall Street Journal have a tendency to spend three months reporting…it’s great public service journalism but…running a blog is just a completely different set of skills.

On using Twitter as a media member:
Alan Murray: There’s one big don’t and that one big don’t is don’t be stupid…we’ve got 50 people on twitter, I do tweets a dozen times a day and I don’t think people are that profoundly interested in my personal life…the basic message is don’t be stupid, if you cover the supreme court you probably shouldn’t tweet about going to an abortion rally…inevitably there are people who do stupid things.

Craig Newmark: I do use twitter in my day job which is customer service…twitter is pretty good for customer service and pretty good for gaging the temperature of what’s going on. We’re doing things differently based on we do what the community wants…I’ve been doing customer service for 14 years and I remain committed.

On subscription versus advertising biz models:
Nick Denton: Most newspapers apart from the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times have nothing that people want to pay for.

Bonnie Fuller: I disagree, [asked by Denton will you charge?] There may be parts of it yes.

Alan Murray: You will not have a flourishing news organization based on advertising alone.

Nick Denton: Well anyone can do that. Advertising is perfectly capable of providing revenue…I absolutely accept that local politics, advertising won’t support that.

Craig Newmark: I will go to the sites which I trust will give me reliable information, speaking as an amateur, I do look at brand advertising, if this trend becomes real and doesn’t fizzle out it becomes real and we’ll think of it as an overnight change but it begins now.

Bonnie Fuller: If you think about the traditional media there’s a lot of brands within the brands, for example Tom Friedman…there are voices within organizations that people will pay to have more contact with…more personal relationship with, because people crave to be close to the people they follow.

Nick Denton: I’m sure people always will pay to be close to Thomas Friedman, I’m not sure why, but who pays to collect that money? Is it the newspaper or is it Thomas Friedman himself?

On the concept of status
Jack Dorsey: We knew the concept was big, but no we didn’t [know this would happen] but it’s about the community which determines where it goes.

The complete panel can be viewed above.

At 1PM, I Want Media presents its second annual The Future of Media forum from NYU:

On the panel:
* Nick Denton, Founder, Gawker Media
* Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and Chairman, Twitter
* Bonnie Fuller, Founder, Bonnie Fuller Media
* Alan Murray, Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor Online, The Wall Street Journal
* Craig Newmark, Founder and Customer Service Rep, Craigslist

Watch live starting at 1:00 PM EST (and on-demand after completion.)

All day long The Business Insider’s 2009 Startup Conference is being streamed live:

And tonight from 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM EST, Digital Content Partners presents You Are Downloaded live from the Highline Ballroom. Tickets for the show featuring YouTube celebs Tay Zonday, Esmée Denters and others are still available, but if you can’t make it watch live below: