Blyk, the youth-focused, ad-funded MVNO and media channel has announced expansion plans into the Dutch market through a partnership with Vodafone.

Blyk originally launched their own MVNO operations in several countries, but this announcement apparently marks the beginning of a new partnership focused strategic thrust for the company.

The partnership will bring the Blyk media model to the Netherlands, utilizing Vodafone’s network infrastructure. According to Blyk co-founder and CEO, Pekka Ala-Pietilä, “Our relationship will include a co-development of the consumer proposition for the Netherlands and audience management. Blyk will have responsibility for the advertising sales and technology.”

The Financial Times reported that Mr. Ala-Pietila had said that Blyk had received an “overwhelming amount of requests” to run mobile operators’ entire advertising businesses in Europe and Asia, and was close to signing a similar deal in the UK.

For an interesting view of this announcement, take a look at The Blyk Partnership Blueprint by Jonathon MacDonald, ex-sales Director of Blyk UK, who concludes, “It matches the ambition of the Telco with the media capability of Blyk. It is apparent that both companies strategies are aligned.”

Eric Kip, Managing Director Blyk Netherlands, says: “The Netherlands has the third highest advertising spend per capita in Europe and is a hub for many global companies and ad agencies, so it is an obvious territory for Blyk’s expansion. The advertising market, whilst both creative and dynamic, is also cluttered and we believe youth brands will welcome a highly engaging communication channel like Blyk.

For more about Blyk, take a look at these MobiAD articles:

• Blyk, The Ad-Funded Mobile Network, One Year Later: Still Learning, Still Innovating

• Penguin Uses Mobile To Promote Teen Novel

• Designing Blyk – The First Ad-Funded Mobile Operator