• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 19, 2011

Dentsu this morning unveiled a deal with Skype making it the exclusive display advertising partner in Japan for the Internet-based voice and video communications platform. The Tokyo-based agency holding company said the deal covers all display campaigns running on Skype in Japan that are not "multinational," or "multi-regional in nature."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Dentsu said it would begin selling Skype's digital display inventory, which will appear in the "Home" tab of Skype for Windows.

Dentsu did not indicate what Skype's reach in Japan is, but noted that it currently reaches an average of 170 million "monthly connected users worldwide and about 30 million "concurrent users" during peak times.

The packages represented by Dentsu will include Skype's home page, including "large masthead space" that advertisers can use for displaying rich and interactive banner ads.

Skype described the Dentsu deal as a "first step" for advertisers in Japan and said it is exploring other opportunities in the market.