Blyk expands into Europe

Blyk has announced that it is hoping to repeat the success it has had in the UK and will be expanding its operation and moving out into more European countries next year. It already told us that it was moving into the Netherlands in January of this year and today it has announced that the next countries it will target are Germany, Spain and Belgium.

The exact details haven’t been announced and the company says that it will make more country-specific announcements in the “near future.”

Avid readers of SMS Text News will have been well-prepared for this news however, as when Ewan bumped into Leif Fagelstedt, Blyk Chief Operating Officer at the Blyk one-year party, he hinted at European expansion. This is what he told Ewan:

“We’ve got a very clear vision,” he shoots, “We’re the fastest growing youth media in the UK at the moment. By the end of the year, we want to be the biggest. Then we want to do it in Europe.”

So well done to Blyk, they’ve done as they promised. If they can take the advertisers over to these markets with them then they are onto a winner. I presume that’s what the choice of territories is partly based on: advertisers who are getting an average of a 29% response rate in the UK have looked at other markets and asked Blyk to get out there. Apparently all three countries have big advertising markets, so it looks like there is room for Blyk to be successful out there.

Blyk’s CEO and Co-founder, Pekka Ala-Pietilä said of the move:

“There is a great opportunity for Blyk in these markets. Our research shows that young people in Germany, Spain and Belgium are interested in the Blyk proposition because they want to interact with brands they like in exchange for free communication.”

If you’re between 16-24 and you live in Germany, Spain or Belgium then look out for more and let us know if you sign up and what your experiences are like.

Obviously Ricky will still be updating us with his BlykWatch articles on a regular basis about what Blyk is up to in the UK. In the announcement Blyk says that it still expanding in the UK and expects to have upto 200 brands on board by the end of the year.