Time to Put Joost on Your Radar

Joost has seen its share of incarnations (and owners) over the past few years and this time it is plunging into the video ad world - something Web professionals need to know about.

Adconion Media Group, who purchased Joost in 2009, has announced they will spin off Joost Video Network as its own standalone business; shifting from a video distribution network to a full-scale video ad business. Joost Video Network will aggregate content, then pair advertisers with that content so ads are shown to the most relevant audience.

According to Tyler Moebius, CEO of Adconion Media Group:

"Video has always been a top priority for us, and after carefully watching the market and listening to our clients' needs, we knew that now was the time to be aggressive and spinoff a successful product to become an even more successful standalone business. We are well positioned to capture more of the video market because unlike other pure-play video networks, we can provide both massive reach and scale across a broader suite of products such as: pre-roll, in-banner video, expandable ads, road blocks and custom skins and integrations on Joost.com."

In 2010, Joost boasted revenue in the $30 million range and that number is expected to reach triple digits in 2011. That would make Joost the largest video ad network in the world. The timing couldn't be better for Joost and advertisers. In comScore's latest Video Metrix, they found that in December 2010, 172 million U.S. viewers averaged 14.6 hours of online video viewing per user and that 6 billion ads were viewed against 5.2 billion video viewing sessions.

Joost will launch a website dedicated to advertisers and agencies in March, 2011.