Remember Joost?
That was the Internet TV company founded by the guys behind Skype (the Internet phone calling firm acquired, then spun off, by eBay) and Kazaa (the file-sharing firm that paid the music industry $100 million to settle copyright-infringement claims).
Joost, which had hired Cisco’s Mike Volpi as CEO, was going to shake up the TV business — before it became clear that (a) the thick-client, peer-to-peer model was destined to fail and (b) most content owners weren’t able to monetize their video in a free-to-consumer site (see Joost Assets Acquired By Online-Ad Firm Adconian and Joost Raises $45M from Viacom, CBS, Others).
Earlier this week the Internet advertising firm that bought Joost’s remains, Adconion, announced that it will spin off the Joost Video Network into a separate standalone business “to form the world’s largest video platform effective immediately.”
The new Joost isn’t a destination site so much as a video syndication and advertising play, “dedicated to providing premium-branded solutions for advertisers and brand marketers seeking to reach their targeted audience with engaging and high impact in-stream and in-banner video advertising,” according to Adconion’s release. The venture will be headed by EVP Nick Higgins, previously Adconion’s head of global video and former MSN exec. According to the company, the Joost Video Network quadrupled revenue to nearly $30 million in 12 months.
Recall that Time Warner Cable had been rumored to be sniffing around Joost (see Time Warner Cable Looking to Get Joost? and Comcast Tells Joost ‘We’ll Pass’: Report).
TWC subsequently hired away Joost’s CTO, Jason Gaedtke (see Time Warner Cable Nabs Joost’s CTO). Another former Jooster went to MSG (see MSG Media Hires Ex-Joost Exec as Sales EVP).
