What Happened to Justin.tv

In the world of live streaming, Twitch has become a household name, but what about its predecessor, Justin.tv? Back in 2007, Justin.tv emerged as a trailblazing platform that allowed individuals to share their lives with a global audience in real time - coined as "lifecasting" by the founders. Initially, it only features the dailiy activities of Justin Kan, one of the co-founders of Justin.tv. Soon, the platform expanded, enabling anyone to live stream their experiences, ultimately evolving into a platform with a broader focus.

In this article, we will uncover the intriguing journey of Justin.tv, and discover how it grows into Twitch. Join us as we explore the rise, fall, and reinvention of this influential live streaming pioneer.

The History of Justin.tv

Before working on the streaming site, Justin Kan and Emmett Shear worked on a digital calendar app Kiko that received $12,000 and $50,000 funding from Y Combinator. However, after Google introduced their own calendar app, Kiko was eventually sold on eBay for $258,000. Following this, Kan and Shear drew inspiration from the success of YouTube and decided to start their next venture: a live streaming project. Joined by Michael Siebel and Kyle Vogt, the four co-founders work on the idea that later became Justin.tv.

Justin.tv as the One Man's Channel

At the beginning, Justin.tv had only one live stream, featuring Justin Kan. There is a hat-fixed webcam wired to a laptop in his backpack. The channel streamed Justin nearly 24/7, except for bathroom breaks and other private occasions. Viewers could comment in the public chat room while Justin was streaming his life.

Justin.tv soon became the phenomenon at a time when lifecasting is still an unconventional approach. Justin was featured on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle and as a guest on the Today Show.

As for the technical aspect, during the 3G network era, the team managed to bring down the cost of streaming one hour of content per user from $0.36 to an amount lower than one cent per user per hour, utilizing Amazon EC2.

According to Wired, Justin's 24/7 broadcasting has sparked controversy and led to various problems. A notice from their landlord requested Justin to move out of the Crystal Towers apartment, an asset managed by Trinity in North Beach, San Francisco. Plus, parties and gathering by Justin.tv disrupted the peaceful living conditions for neighbors. The broadcasting has blurred the boundary of home office, turning the flat into a commercial television studio.

Justin.tv as the Streaming Site for Everyone

On May 29, 2007, Justin.tv launched its second lifecasting channel, iJustine, which featured Justine Ezarik, a 23-year-old video blogger and graphic designer from Pittsburgh. Prior to the launch, Justine had already made a guest appearance on Justin.tv, participating in a 24-hour broadcast in April 2007. Justin found Justine the perfect match for Justin.tv, noting that her name and overall persona made her the perfect fit to become the network's next internet celebrity.

Due to the challenge of generating compelling new content, the website shifted its focus from sole lifecasting to live streaming in a variety of categories. In October 2007, Justin.tv decided to open up itself as a platform for everybody. The company raised $8 million from Alsop Louie Partners and Felicis Ventures for the rebranding. The relaunching show hosted by the Jonas Brothers had successfully drawn in over 80,000 viewers.

Justin.tv introduced a range of selectable categories for broadcasters, offering a variety of options to choose from. These categories included Entertainment, Gaming, Music & Radio, People & Lifecasting, Sports, News & Tech, Animals, and Divas & Dudes. Meanwhile, the team also expanded its platform to include mobile streaming, allowing anyone with a mobile phone to initiate a stream.

Challenges and Legal Troubles

The platform hit a record of 1 million registered users in July 2008. Yet, as observed by the Verge, the founders didn't "have a clear sense of where they were headed, or how to make money at scale".

During this time, Justin.tv had yet to generate revenue and relied heavily on its funding to sustain operations. To address this, the platform introduced sponsored channels in collaboration with advertisers. The Talk Market, an e-commerce company backed by Amazon, became the first advertiser to participate in this initiative, featuring one-hour broadcasts on the platform.

Just as Napster and Kazaa, streaming services offered in Justin.tv were challenging to regulate during that time, resulting in legal complications and controversies surrounding the unauthorized broadcast of copyrighted content, defamation, and other related matters.

Illegal Sports Live Streaming on Justin.tv

Around 2009, Justin.tv owed much of its traffic spike to users who unlawfully broadcasted sports matches without the necessary licenses. At its peak, there are illegal live streams that featured pirated content, including professional sports, TV shows, and movies.

These sports streams quickly became the leading category on Justin.tv, generating a significant amount of traffic for the site. Particularly during weekends and prominent sports seasons such as the NFL and NCAA playoffs, traffic on the platform soared. Justin.tv's trending page served as a visual testament to the prevalence of pirated streams.

BayTSP's Announcement and Its Possible Impact

When BayTSP, an anti-piracy firm, made the announcement on April 6, 2009, that it had been enlisted by a "global sports franchise and two of the largest pay-per-view event promoters in the world" to combat piracy, the consequences for Justin.tv were swift. The live-streaming site experienced a significant drop in traffic following the announcement. While it's uncertain whether this decline in traffic was directly caused by BayTSP's involvement, the timing suggests a possible connection.

Justin.tv's Effort to Resolve Copyright Problems

Justin.tv struggles to address its long-standing copyright problems. In August 2009, the platform forged a partnership with Fox and content filtering firm Vobile to implement effective copyright protection measures. The platform offered a takedown tool that enabled copyright owners to swiftly terminate channels through the admin interface.

Streaming sports without a license is illegal as it’s a form of piracy, and this led to some legal troubles for the live streaming site, ultimately causing the company to pivot to video game streaming.

UFC Files Lawsuit Against Justin.tv

In 2009, Zuffa, the parent company of UFC, filed a lawsuit against Justin.tv for failing to address the widespread uploading of copyrighted content. According to UFC, more than 50,000 people watched UFC 121 on Justin.tv, resulting in the hiring of contractors to remove over 200 live streams of the event.

Competitors like Livestream criticized Justin.tv, accusing it of insufficient efforts to combat copyrighted content broadcasting. Despite Justin.tv's claim that live video broadcasting made it challenging to prevent copyright violations, UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta believed more action should be taken.

In July 2010, the UFC subpoenaed Justin.tv for user information related to UFC broadcast streams. This lawsuit highlighted the ongoing struggle faced by platforms like Justin.tv in combating copyright infringement.

Following legal action from the UFC and a boxing promoter, Justin.tv intensified its efforts to remove unauthorized broadcasts. As a result, the platform experienced a significant decline in traffic in 2010, with a drop of up to 20%, equivalent to approximately 5 million users, as noted by FourWeekMBA.

Justin.tv Enlists Law Professor Eric Goldman as an Advisor

In March 2010, Justin.tv enlisted Eric Goldman, a law professor and director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, as an external advisor. They sought his assistance in addressing the challenges posed by live video piracy. One of the key issues he tackled was a subpoena from the UFC, which aimed to obtain the IP addresses of individuals streaming illegal broadcasts.

Pivoting to Game Streaming

Justin.tv encountered stagnant growth and faced legal challenges around 2009-2010. To revive the platform, a significant pivot was needed, and that's game streaming.

Kan disliked the game streaming niche because it required a lot of bandwidth and he didn’t understand why users would want to spend their time watching others play video games. But irrespective of Kan’s grievances, traffic data suggested this was exactly what Justin.tv users were doing.

In fact, since users have freedoms uploading the content, it resulted in the formation of a passionate video game streaming niche. Emmett Shear, himself a gamer, noted that with some added features and embedded advertising, the niche had the potential to become profitable.

What then Happened to Justin.tv

The game streaming lead to the emergence of one of the largest video streaming platforms globally – Twitch.

Initially, Twitch was a category for video game steaming on Justin.tv. Recognizing the immense potential and growing popularity of Twitch, the team decided to spin it off into a separate website in 2011. This move allowed Twitch to flourish as an independent platform catering to the gaming community. According to Techcrunch, Twitch scored more 8 million unique users after its first month.

In February 2014, Justin.tv underwent an official rebranding and became Twitch Interactive Inc. This strategic shift demonstrated the company's commitment to focusing its resources on Twitch, driven by its overwhelming success and massive popularity. At that time, the corporate still owns both Twitch and the website Justin.tv.

In May 2014, the Twitch team announced their decision to delete all archived content from Justin.tv. Finally, on August 5, 2014, the co-founders officially announced the permanent shutdown of Justin.tv. Twitch was then acquired by Amazon in the same month that year, for approximately $970 million in cash.