Blyk signs up its first 100,000
MVNO Blyk, which launched a few months late in September 2007, has said it has caught up ground by signing up 100,000 "members" six months ahead of its own schedule. The company targets 16-24 year olds in the UK, who fill in a profile form about themselves when they sign up.
Users then get their phone service for free in exchange for exposing themselves to a set number of ad campaigns a month, totting up to about six messages a day. Brands to use the channel so far include Xbox, Adidas, STA Travel, Penguin, Brylcreem, Boots, COI and RSPCA.
Blyk is launching in the Netherlands in the second half of 2008 with plans for other European market launches, and has recently attractedinvestment from Goldman Sachs and Industrial and Financial Investments Company (IFIC), who joined Sofinnova Partners and a number of private investors.
Shaun Gregory, UK CEO said, " Reaching 100,000 members is significant for advertisers because it gives them the opportunity to engage with a mass youth audience in a highly efficient and cost-effective way. In six months we have built up a deep knowledge of our member base which now exceeds many established youth media players and with over 7 million 16-24 year old phone owners in the UK there is huge potential for growth."
Blyk claims that the ad campaigns have generated average response rates of 29%, which it says is a leading number in terms of other platforms - generating a cost per response of 53p, versus £1.50 for online advertising and £2.22 for unprofiled SMS push. (figures from E-Consultancy based on trade estimates)
Penguin Books ran a campaign on Blyk to promote the launch of Nick Hornby’s latest novel ‘Slam’ and achieved 67% response rate. Positive respondents received a 90 second audio preview of the opening chapter read by Nicholas Hoult, star of Channel 4’s ‘Skins’ - a media first for using audio clips sent via mobile to promote a book.
But the big question is - are revenues for Blyk backing up its business model. If it has 100,000 subscribers, what are the revenues Blyk itself is generating from that user base? Its cost of sales is clearly fairly cheap, but at 53p for every direct response from a user, it will be interesting to see what scale Blyk can achieve to reach its financial goals.
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