Video streaming service Justin.TV has announced it will be closing its video archive system permanently on June 15th. This means that producers who use Justin.TV will no longer be able to host saved versions of their videos on the site. Also, any videos that are currently in Justin.TV’s archives will be deleted. The company explained thru its blog:

“…our staff has been reviewing data surrounding our archive and VOD (Video on Demand) system. We found that more than half of our VODs are unwatched (with 0 or 1 total views), while the vast majority are rarely watched (with 10 or less views). This data was essential in better understanding how our service is being used. Even when adding the direct upload to YouTube functionality, we found this feature was seldom used.”

The statement went on to say that Justin.TV will be focusing its efforts on live streaming, as that seems to be what most producers and viewers are using the service for.  Justin.TV has put together a help article that provides alternative solutions for live producers who’d still like to archive their video streams. Users who currently have archived videos on the system can also download them.

In the help article linked above, Justin.TV also notes that the company will be ending its Premium services. So, users with Premium accounts won’t be spared from the changes to Justin.TV’s archive system.

These moves come a few weeks after rumors began to circulate that YouTube may be looking to acquire Twitch, a gaming-focused video streaming service spun off of Justin.TV. There’s no telling at this point if the rumored acquisition has any connection to the recent changes at Justin.TV. Earlier this year. Ustream, a competitor to Justin.TV, also changed its video archiving policy by ending archiving for users with free accounts. But Ustream users can still archive videos if they have a premium account.

Posted by Shawn Thorpe