Digital dismiss Zoopla's claims as PR 'noise'

As the battle for second place in the property portal wars continues, the Digital Property Group has claimed it is the fastest growing website.

Two weeks ago Zoopla claimed that distinction, citing the independent web analyst Nielsen, and quoting percentage growth. Zoopla also said that Digital had lost traffic.

But now, citing rival web analyst comScore, Digital has hit back, quoting absolute statistics.

It claims it is the Zoopla websites which have shed visitors and it has warned agents to examine carefully the data they are presented with – and not just fall for ‘noise’.

According to Digital, it had an additional 185,000 visitors in September, compared with August, against Rightmove’s extra 83,000 and PropertyFinder Group’s 39,000 loss.

The yearly comparison for September 2009 is also said to position Digital as the fastest growing (735,000 additional visitors versus September 2008) followed by Rightmove (729,000) with PropertyFinder showing a yearly loss of 201,000 unique visitors.

Andrew Smith, Head of Research, said: “We are interested in fair and transparent figures.

“The analysis of absolute figures underlines that the Digital Property Group has grown its audience faster than any other over the last month and year.”

He admitted that by using percentages, neither Rightmove nor Digital would be in the ‘fastest growing’ top five portals – despite having the most visitors. 

Smith said: “This measurement often benefits portals with low consumer traction that are starting from an already low base.”