OnTheMarket appears to be deliberately engaging in a campaign of misinformation to its members and the market both about their own traffic figures and the volume of listings on competitive websites according to a claim by Zoopla.
A press release by the website issued yesterday afternoon follows up a recent series of spats between the two portals.
Previous claims about OTM's traffic by Zoopla have quoted HitWise, one of many independent internet monitoring services. Now Zoopla has backed this up with data from comScore, which allegedly reveals that total unique visitors' to OnTheMarket during February were only 439,000, well below the figures claimed in recent communications according to ZPG's communications director Lawrence Hall.
The number of visits (non-unique) to OTM in February averaged 38,000 per day according to comScore, which puts their data in line with that already reported by Hitwise and confirms that OTM is so far struggling to gain any real traction and market share with consumers he says.
Hall goes on to say: OTM continues to make unsubstantiated and misleading claims about its traffic but its members are easily able to track their enquiries and performance and we urge them to do so. Despite recent attempts to rubbish independent data sources like Hitwise and comScore, these are widely recognised by advertisers worldwide as the most reliable indicators of audience.
Hall says he believed OTM will need to come clean to its members about its ability to realistically challenge and replace the exposure of the leading portals that it has asked them to give up.
We are not surprised by the traffic figures from comScore or Hitwise given that the OTM marketing campaign to date appears to be heavily tilted towards the niche, top-end of the market with ads in national broadsheets and magazines like Country Life. It is quite hard to see how, as a mutual, these types of activities and spend benefit the majority of its members says Hall.
OnTheMarket chief executive Ian Springett responded by telling Estate Agent Today last evening that he took the suggesting that the new portal was engaged in a campaign of deliberate misinformation extremely seriously.
"The figures being quoted by Zoopla Property Group are entirely inaccurate. We stand by every figure we have previously stated and there is no question that less than six weeks after our launch, on March 6 and 7, we passed the mark of two million unique visitors to the website says Springett.
He says Zoopla's figures are simply the latest instalment of a desperate smear campaign attempting to intimidate agents who have chosen to remove all of their properties and their corresponding advertising expenditure from Zoopla.
Springett says Zoopla previously claimed OnTheMarket would never get off the ground, then it presumed it would not raise enough money, and then not launch on time.
They suggested the website would not be good enough and agents would not respect our one other portal rule but we have proved them wrong on all counts and we remain confident in becoming the number two portal by January 2016 because our membership base and our traffic levels are increasing he insists.
"With every smear tactic used, it is clear just how out of touch Zoopla has become with the commitment of our 4,800 plus member agents to create a superior market-leading, mutually-run, property portal.
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Comments
Exactly Simon. In the short term OTM has weakened Zoopla and strengthend Rightmove which Im sure was not the desired effect, but looking beyond that, as Zoopla recovers and OTM gains traction then that must be good for agents in providing more choice of high profile property portals internet portals and hopefully moderate the spiralling costs of subscriptions to the likes of Rightmove. Other than than that, I fail to see what all the fuss is about, as on a No Sale No Fee proposition it is the individual agents prerogative as to where and how they promote their clients properties. They will stand or fall by how successful their marketing strategies are. I guess most of the fuss over the issue has been stirred up by the so called online only estate agents throwing their toys out the pram because they have been excluded from OTM, pointing the finger at those often misrepresented breed of agents who so effectively service the housing market within their local communities.
Yes - my company is a Member. That aside, I knew long before we joined that there was NO REQUIREMENT to list 'exclusively' on OTM - just a facility that naturally they would like Members to adopt. In fairness to you, the advert is ambiguous and misleading. To answer your question - no, I do not "flaunt the rules" - but I stress again that with regard to the "exclusive" listing facility THERE IS NO SUCH RULE.
Imagine you are back in the playground, shouldn't be too difficult for some who act as if they never left it. So there is this horrible bully with a gang of thugs stealing everyone's dinner money and making everyone miserable. Then another big boy forms a gang and starts to give the bully a hard time. Then just as the bully's power starts to wane a group of rich kids start offering the the rival gang members bribes to leave the gang and join them. Most ignore them because they know the rich kids are only interested in protecting their exclusive common room but some join leaving the rival gang weakened and the bully supreme. Congratulations, well done, good job.
We are signed up to OTM. It is absolutely NOT a condition of the contract. They have requested that we do it. We have refused, some have agreed.
They are stating in their adverts that you will find properties there before other sites. They do not, however, say that ALL properties appear on OTM before other sites.
PeeBee,
I take it you are with OTM then, you know the truth, I have had them banging on about it, it is true their advert states it quite clearly, how else could they say it if it was not true, the agents have not said out of the goodness of heart they will delay placing on other portals it is part of the conditions, are you one of the agents who flaunts the rules and is still on Z and RM as well as OTM, and placing it on all the portals at the same time
I know it is hard to compare but are people feeling they are getting many leads from OTM
"what they don't say is that it is a condition of joining OTM"
That is because IT IS NOT.
What other non-facts, fabrications and untruths would you like to offer as "proof" of your argument
OMG, when you see their ads on TV they say that the properties are advertised with them before the other portals, what they don't say is that it is a condition of joining OTM, do the Estate agents tell their clients that, " well Mr Client of course to push our owned portal we will advertise on OTM before we advertise on others, at your expense of course on lost time" thank you my fee for that is 2% ;)
I dont think we can blame either party for promoting themselves in the best light. The dirtier this fight gets, the better it is for agents. Its Showtime!
Ahhh... Mr Harwell! You've been a miss, Sir! ;o)
How's life in Bedale You're starting to make that impact, I see!
Mr Roder - I am afraid that any attempt whatsoever to 'add balance' to this whole sorry mess is a waste of your time and effort.
What I predicted from Day #1 was that "The Industry" would suffer, as would its customers.
Even I did not dare to imagine to what extent that would happen.
The whole episode makes you proud to fly the flag, does it not...
Fair point. I just thought a bit of balance was needed after Mo Styles was pummelled yesterday, when it wasn't even clear if Mo Styles was actually a plant. His subsequent posts would suggest not.
As you said below, neither side has covered themselves in glory and should really be above this sort of playground squabbling. But, like with politicians, supposedly intelligent people can't seem to help themselves when it comes to getting petty little digs in.
Try listing for 48 hours before RM, It has worked for us. One might argue they would have come through RM in a couple of days in any case but then again thats no different to how things were with Zoopla. Less trees have given their lives printing out the waste of time leads that Z inevitably produced however.
Why shouldn't they fight back I will tell you; because Z is a listed company that has constantly been telling shareholders there is nothing to worry about its a blip and customers will return. Their actions decidedly now say differently and I would even go as far as suggesting that if there were any sales from key directors taking place following those statements that they will I suspect be closely monitored.
Rob, I understand from yesterday your support for Z but lets not make them out to be the innocent in all of this, they started on this aggressive track so deserve no sympathy. In fact as I have pointed out as a supposed respected company these sorts of tactics should be far beneath them. I don't see RM questioning things and if there is space for two portals why should we estate agents be able to choose who that two should be!!
"...no suspicions raised by this ridiculously over-the-top endorsement Funny that"
Erm... I really think that anyone needing their "suspicions raised" when the poster names themselves 'OTM SUpporter' might also need a life-support machine to assist them with more important functions than an inkling of the worst hidden 'plant' ever...
O dear o dear.
Calm down people.
For us OM has so far produced a hand full of applicants and zero valuation opportunities.
I hope things imrove.
Everyone was jumping on Mo Styles yesterday for being an obvious Zoopla plant, no suspicions raised by this ridiculously over-the-top endorsement Funny that.
Hmm, not sure about that. I think you're seriously underestimating Zoopla and, in particular, Rightmove's reach. The property market doesn't only exist in London, no matter how much people would like it to.
How do you know Zoopla are struggling How do we know OTM will be a success It's much too early to tell. They've done a decent job of getting their name out there and making a big noise, but the number of agents they have signed up is relatively low and whenever I do a quick comparison check on all three portals, the number of listings on OTM is still a very distant third.
All the vitriol and abuse is being aimed at Zoopla, but wasn't the whole point of OTM to get Rightmove to reduce their fees This hasn't affected RM in any way, they've barely even batted an eyelid. They've just kept quiet and got even stronger as a result, from what I've seen.
This is what I find funny (not!) about Zoopla...
They were quick enough to write to my clients informing them of the fact that Harwell Estates did not list on Zoopla and we were ruining their chances of selling!
Yesterday I must have had 10 missed calls from Zoopla, clearly trying to get me to sign up and list with them
Not going to happen...
OTM have been just as guilty, to be fair. It's all a bit unpalatable and childish, but both sides have been as culpable as the other.
Surely it's EAT's duty to report the latest property news. Whether you like it or not, the OTM/Zoopla spat is big property news. It matters to the industry.
Zoopla have released a press release, EAT have put that out there. If OTM released a press release attacking Zoopla, as they have done in the past, it would be reported too. I think you're looking too hard for an angle.
What would you rather, no mention of anything to do with the portals Again, whether you like it or not, the portal wars is arguably the industry's major talking point at the moment. It would be very strange if a news site didn't highlight this.
None of this 'willy-waving' matters.
The only two things that matter are 1) The number of leads, and 2) the quality of leads.
It is too early to say whether OTM will work (and too early to expect it to have fully worked already). Distracting propaganda based on anything but leads is childish.
PS. EAT, sort yourselves out. Try some journalism.
This is good news!, I'm glad to see that OTM is obviously forcing more attacks from Zoopla so it must be having an effect. Almost every lead we had from Zoopla was generic trash. We now get good leads from OTM. EVERY APP that registered with us agrees to be registered with OTM and we do it for them. Every agent should do the same!
Perhaps, but it's Rightmove that will be laughing hardest. OTM will only make them stronger, turning the duopoly into a monopoly. I doubt that was part of Springett's masterplan.
And, as has been pointed out on other articles, Zoopla have regularly been getting it in the neck from OTM, why shouldn't they fight back a bit It's all a bit children in the playground, who can shout the loudest, but Springett has shown in the past that he's not above that sort of tactic.
We stayed with zoopla. I have no idea why. Less leads, poorer quality leads, less instructions and to top it all off . . . . they are attacking OTM and the agents who use it. Should have stuck with RM.
Sadlyit wasn't my choice to make.
I think this is fascinating. As you look back through history every crumbling empire released propaganda and then more propaganda. What we are witnessing here is the house of cards that Zoopla created collapsing around them. I read this article and I don't see meaningful statistics I see a company screaming desperation. Their vociferous attacks remove any remaining sympathy I may have had for them.
Likely Zoopla are correct, as makes sense. I wish an independent body of sort would look up and release these figures themselves, it would clear things up. Clearly some blatant lies from Mr Springett, as most people know there are businesses advertising or trying to on all three portals. I quote "agents would not respect our one other portal rule but we have proved them wrong on all counts". That one statement for me undermines his whole argument.
(Guest) Nick did you even read the article If so then I don't understand your comment because it is very well balanced and gives OTM the right to reply and the last word.
Zoopla are struggling. The leads which come from Zoopla are not quality leads. Zoopla is going down. In order for OTM to get to number 1 spot they need to have al least 75% of London agents first, then move out to the rest of the country. Without London agents their is no rightmove or zoopla. OTM should market through the agents and bring the price down of subscription.
I'm fed up of EAT churning up anti OTM every single day I will be un subscribing very soon. Has there ever been a positive editorial
Enough is enough. How can any self respecting agent stand by Zoopla after this shocking non stop childish campaign.