Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  

Visit min's sister site:



BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS

Joost Restructures: Goes White Label
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

One of the most over-hyped brands in the Web video explosion of recent years, Joost, admits defeat at the hands of major TV suppliers, YouTube and hulu. In a blog post from CEO Mike Volpe at the site yesterday, the company announced it was leaving the consumer space and focusing on selling its technology as a white label video platform for media companies. “Unfortunately, as a part of this change, we will say goodbye to many of our colleagues and friends.” Volpe says on the site. In fact, Volpe himself is stepping down as CEO to remain as chairman of the board as current svp of engineering Matt Zalesko takes over.

Joost did not specify the number of layoffs involved in this move, but it seems to have pared itself down to a “core team” in New York and London that will engineer and sell Joost as a white label video platform. “It’s been increasingly challenging to operate as an independent, ad-supported online video platform,” Volpe admits, but he thinks there is a demand for the technology within the branded entertainment sites of major media.

In the battle of the video portals, Joost was up against YouTube, Break.com, Dailymotion.com and, of course, hulu, as all of these major venues tried to partner up with TV, film and other online video partners. Weeks ago, Joost announced partnerships with Vogue.TV and Marvel Entertainment, and it has hosted video for Wired Science and other magazine properties online. Joost began several years ago with considerable fanfare as a highly polished aggregator of TV content on the Web that incorporated social media and user interaction. It went through several technical and business model iterations, ran obtuse TV commercials long before the technology was ready, and in the end was upstaged handily by the NBC/News Corp. joint venture hulu.

If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com

COMMENTS
Search Jobs
Media Jobs

App Central

min's App Central (for min subscribers only): Stay on top of mobile app developments with exclusive app reviews, analysis and data.

Please enter the following information to have a link to The Skinny emailed to your iPhone:

White Papers
Get even smarter -- download a white paper today. 


... view Whitepapers
min Contests

min contests
Want to sponsor a min contest?


  Events

      Best of the Web, April 3, 2012

min's Sales Executive of the Year Awards
Call for Entries


min Press

min's Mobile App Report

 View Details
                           

min Presents: The Most Intriguing & Top-Selling Magazine Covers 2007-2010Intriguing & Top-Selling Magazine Covers

 View Details
                           

State of Digital MediaThe State of Digital Media

 View Details
                                                      

                                    Internet Sales            Guidebook

 View Details

All min Press

Inside min This Week
Events Calendar

min's Best of the Web Awards
Event April 3, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt, NYC
Register Today!


min Webinar:

Tablets 2.0: Generating a Revenue Plan for the Tablets Platform
December 8, 2011 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Available on Demand


All Events




min
Free Eletters — Sign up Now