Zoomf, one of the first of the free property search engines, has been reportedly sold to Trinity Mirror.
Launched at the end of 2006, its outspoken director Mike Carter said that offerings like Zoomf would spell the end of the traditional paid-for subscription portals within two years. He criticised them as “pay and pray” models and urged agents to concentrate on ROI – return on investment.
Although free, Zoomf needed to charge agents for promoting particular properties and it is not clear how successful this has been. It has also been relatively low-profile, lacking the huge marketing budgets that the paid-for portals have.
Nor have the paid-for portals vanished. As the latest ComScore figures show, the market is still dominated by the ‘big four’ – Rightmove, Propertyfinder, FindaProperty and Primelocation.
At Trinity Mirror, online property businesses already owned include smartnewhomes and the recently acquired email4property. We have so far not been able to get anyone to comment on the report, while calls to Zoomf went through to voicemail.
Zoomf 'finds new home at Mirror''
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Comments
Hi Ros! We apologize for the voicemail and feel free to call me direct anytime.
Yes you are right, I think I might have spelled doom for subscription models over the longer term and our 2 years is not up yet as we've still got a couple months to go!
Seriously speaking, the portal market has definitely moved on from the end of 2006. Portals may charge agents using a subscription but every agent judges that portal based on the performance. This is even more true in today's tough market.
Regarding the free-to-list (freemium) model, I do share your thoughts that most agents don't yet fully understand how it works. That is the challenge and the opportunity at hand.
As for the deal with TM, we have big plans in store for 2009. And as I've said throughout the past two years, consumers are only seeing the first versions of sites like Glorbix, Zoomf and Nestoria. Expect the innovation to be fast and furious over 2009.