From reuters today:

FreeWheel Technology Managing iPhone Video Ad Serving for Joost

-       FreeWheel’s MRM Platform Delivering Video Advertising into Joost’s iPhone Application

New York, NY – April 8, 2009 – FreeWheel (www.freewheel.tv), whose Monetization Rights Management platform enables content owners and distributors to maximize, optimize and sell their advertising inventory, and Joost (www.joost.com), the global web video service, today announced that FreeWheel’s Monetization Rights Management (MRM) technology is helping to manage and deliver the video ads displayed in the Joost iPhone app. 

Since its introduction last November, approximately 1.5 million iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded the free Joost app, which enables iPhone and iPod Touch users to enjoy thousands of hours of anime, comedy, drama, movies, music, documentaries, sci-fi and sports over their Wi-Fi connections. Users find videos through search, browsing genres, viewing what's popular or choosing from an editorial selection of Joost’s picks. As a free, ad-supported application, the Joost app uses video ads, which are served into the shows via FreeWheel’s technology.

“Providing professional mobile video entertainment requires the management of the rights around that content, and FreeWheel’s platform helps us manage this project,” said David Clark, senior vice president of advertising, Joost. “Their technology simplifies some of the most complicated elements associated with mobile video streaming, and we’re looking forward to continuing our innovation with FreeWheel.”

On mobile devices, as on the web, FreeWheel delivers the highest yielding ad creative based on semantic analysis while accounting for the revenue share whenever any creative unit is served. The company’s mobile ad-serving and management partnership with Joost will define new ways to monetize video content in mobile.

Jon Heller, co-CEO of FreeWheel, said, “Everyone knows how powerful the launch of the iPhone was for the web in general and the video space in particular. But, until someone began to consider the revenue shares and other rights concerning that video content, the same problems as on the web have persisted in mobile video. We expect to provide content owners of all stripes with the ability to scale and drive incremental ad revenue through our automated system on mobile devices as we have on the web moving forward.”

About Joost

Founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, Joost brings video and social interaction together online. All of the video on Joost is professionally produced and streams on-demand to people around the world for free in a high-quality format. Joost includes TV shows, music videos and movies, from mainstream dramas and comedies to anime, action sports and science fiction favorites. For more information, visit www.joost.com.

About FreeWheel

To video content owners, rights holders, and publishers, FreeWheel™ provides the first Monetary Rights Management™ platform – a technology solution that dramatically reduces the unique financial risks and operational complexities of video ad serving across syndication relationships. Freewheel combines the innovation of a start-up with the most experienced and talented team of industry veterans. With decades of leadership experience at leading ad serving and monetization companies such as DoubleClick, Yahoo, Adobe, and Visible World, FreeWheel’s team is united in the understanding that video is fundamentally different from graphical ad placements and search, and needs a unique solution to deliver maximized revenue with minimal complexity.  For more information, please visit: www.freewheel.tv.

# # #

Contact:

FreeWheel: Mark Naples, mnaples@witstrategy.com or 646.265.7372

Joost:  Kerry Vance, kerry.vance@joost.com or 646.330.0737