From Joost Unveils Stellar Brand Ad Launch Lineup, Partnership With IPG:

Joost is offering advertisers a range of formats beyond the traditional 30-second spot. Ten-second and 15-second pre-, mid-, and post-roll options are all available, all with interactive capabilities for users to delve deeper into ad messages if they desire.

Another alternative is a roughly 5-second "Brought to You By..." "introstitial," according to Elders. "We're going to be doing a lot of experimenting around our three core principles of targetability, measurability, and interactivity," he said. "There are a lot of unknowns, and we really don't know yet what viewing patterns are going to be like."

In addition, rather than interrupting programming, Joost will run ads alongside content known as "hand-raisers," which users can click for more information either within Joost's platform or on a brand's own Web site.

Hand-raisers are a great idea. With the potential to be highly contextual and relevant, the clickthrough from ads to really engaging and useful experiences (with sales at the end or not) could be really amazing.

Or it should be really amazing. But knowing how us monkeys like throwing our wrenches in things, I'm sure we can monkey it up.