Executive Summary

Joystream is a decentralized platform for streaming and sharing video content governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). It offers a unique solution to the challenges faced by content creators in the Web2 space, such as unfair revenue distribution, censorship, and centralization. Joystream offers a decentralized governance model, ensuring transparency, community-driven decision-making, and innovative monetization options for content creators, including video NFTs and creator tokens. It has a potential for significant growth in the Web3 space, with a focus on user ownership and fair revenue distribution.

Company/Project Overview

Joystream’s mission is to provide a platform prioritizing content creators and consumers, ensuring fairer reward distribution, censorship resistance, and immunity from global entity interventions. Joystream is a substrate-based video blockchain platform aiming to revolutionize the video streaming industry by providing a decentralized alternative to traditional centralized platforms.

A comprehensive open innovation platform has been established, boasting a publicly accessible network effect that invites contributions and utilization from a broad spectrum of users. This platform is further enhanced by integrating robust financial and audience growth mechanisms, tailored to benefit creators with specialized content catering to fervent audiences.

The foundation of this platform is an application-specific Layer 1 Proof of Stake (L1 PoS) blockchain, meticulously crafted to cater to the unique requirements of a social video platform. Within this ecosystem, all user profiles, channels, content, assets, and associated metadata are fully accessible to the public, ensuring transparency and enabling widespread publishing and retrieval.

The platform employs a decentralized approach to manage extensive data assets, including videos and images. These assets are securely stored within infrastructure maintained and financed by the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Content is efficiently distributed on-demand through a Content Delivery Network (CDN) funded and managed by the DAO.

To foster creativity and ownership, unique non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are utilized for videos, made available through auctions and peer-to-peer transactions, with transparent on-chain mechanisms for creator royalties. Additionally, each channel on the platform is allocated a dedicated fungible token, entitling the holder to a share of the creator’s revenue, further incentivizing content production and engagement.

Founders and Management Team: Bedeho Mender and Mokhtar Naamani are the founders of Joystream. The Joystream team consists of skilled engineers, designers, and marketing experts committed to creating an improved video platform for the future.

Investors: Joystream has secured approximately $13 million in funding, resulting in a roughly $60 million valuation. This achievement has been made possible by supporting a diverse group of over 30 investors, including notable entities such as Digital Currency Group, during the seed round, alongside esteemed partners like Hypersphere, DefiAlliance, and D1 Ventures.

Market Analysis

Joystream has significant growth potential in the vast video streaming market, with the rise of Web3 and decentralized platforms. Content creators, videomakers, creatives, and consumers looking for decentralized video streaming solutions can benefit from Joystream’s unique decentralized alternative, positioning it favorably in the emerging Web3 space despite traditional platforms like YouTube dominating the video streaming market. According to Grand View Research, the global video streaming market is expected to grow by 21.5% in the coming years.

Product/Platform

Joystream represents an open-source platform that operates on an open blockchain architecture, facilitating the simultaneous operation of multiple video streaming applications. This unique ecosystem permits videos uploaded through any application developed on the Joystream platform to reach consumers across various applications within the network effortlessly. This interconnectedness empowers content creators to effortlessly broaden their audience reach with a single account, eliminating the need for additional efforts.

Within the Joystream ecosystem, two primary applications stand out:

Gleev: Gleev distinguishes itself by concentrating exclusively on the Web3 and Crypto content vertical. It is a focal point for like-minded creators and viewers who share a deep interest in contemporary and future developments within cryptocurrency affairs.
L1.media: This application is an expansive hub for education, news, science, and borderless entertainment. Notably, the pioneering community-run gateway is driven by its founding members, who actively implement novel features and funding models to empower content creators.

One notable feature of Joystream is its ability to provide monetary rewards to creators for regularly publishing videos distributed by the Joystream DAO council. The rewards are proportional to the popularity of the videos, ensuring that creators of more widely appreciated content receive greater recognition and financial incentives.

Business Model

Revenue Generation Strategy:

Fees from minting & selling NFTs
Fees from sales of creator tokens
Charges for gateways accessing Joystream content

Customer Acquisition Strategy: They are leveraging the benefits of decentralization, fair revenue distribution, and unique monetization options to attract content creators and consumers. Moreover, this innovative approach introduces novel monetization avenues, diversifying income streams for content creators. By embracing this decentralized model, platforms can attract a vibrant community of creators and consumers drawn by the promise of a more inclusive, transparent, and rewarding digital landscape.

Tokenomics

The $JOY token supply totals 1 billion, with no predetermined upper limit. However, the $JOY token supply is dynamic and can undergo adjustments through processes such as minting and burning, contingent upon specific events that influence the circulation of $JOY tokens.

Holding $JOY tokens offers exciting opportunities within the Joystream community, including covering transaction fees. Staking tokens can lead to additional earnings by contributing to the DAO. $JOY tokens enable participation in revenue-sharing schemes and can be delegated to validators for passive income and project stability. As a token holder, you can directly propose and impact the project’s future direction.

$JOY tokens play a pivotal role in governing and securing the network while also serving as a means of payment for accessing network services and acquiring block space.

JOY tokens are created through various means:

Validators are rewarded for securing the network.
Councilors, workgroup leads, and workers receive salaries.
Content creators are rewarded through a council-driven scheme.
Joystream-based apps are recognized and rewarded.
Financing proposals lead to new token creation.

JOY tokens are burned when:

Creator tokens are sold, and platform fees are applied.
NFTs are sold, incurring platform fees.
Running an app incurs a fee paid to the DAO, which is burned.
New content is published, and transaction fees are entirely burned.

These mechanisms support Joystream’s ecosystem dynamics and sustainability.

Risk Assessment

Joystream, like any innovative platform, is not without its share of inherent risks and challenges. These considerations encompass a spectrum of factors, including regulatory complexities arising from its decentralized structure, the competitive landscape characterized by established centralized platforms and the emergence of new decentralized counterparts, and inherent risks associated with utilizing blockchain technology.

In particular, the decentralized nature of Joystream can present regulatory challenges as authorities grapple with defining the boundaries of this evolving digital landscape. Competition from well-established centralized platforms and dynamic new decentralized entrants adds complexity. Blockchain technology’s fast-evolving nature introduces risks, such as smart contract vulnerabilities and potential security breaches.

Conclusion

Joystream presents a good investment opportunity in the Web3 space, offering a decentralized video streaming platform that prioritizes content creators and consumers. With innovative monetization options and a robust governance model, it stands out as a promising project in the decentralized content-sharing industry. Given the potential for growth, unique value proposition, and the shift towards decentralized platforms, Joystream is a compelling investment opportunity for those looking to tap into the future of video streaming and content sharing.