The basic concept behind RentCompass is nothing we haven’t seen before – a Google Map with available rentals appearing as house icons. Click any item to go to the property’s details page, which includes the usual goodies – pictures, contact info, floor plans. But in the relatively smaller Canadian market, a small fish can make a bigger splash.

RentCompass has so far been available as a website and as a geo-smart mobile app that shows you apartments in the vicinity of where you are at the moment – i.e., walk down the street and see what’s for rent. It’s available for the iPhone and Android phones.

The Facebook app basically puts the standalone app’s functionality into Facebook. Once inside the the social network’s all-encompassing world, you can like, share and comment on a rental, as well as ask your Facebook friends their opinions too. Given the popularity of Facebook for mobile, it’s a good move by RentCompass.

The company also has a presence on Twitter (with its own app too), but the tweets are just a feed of every new property appearing on the website; it’s not location savvy, making it more of a promotional ploy than a truly functional addition to the RentCompass family.

Listing and searching rentals are free on RentCompass. The company says it’s the first mobile service in Canada for rental apartments and the number one downloaded app in Canada for rental searching.

The company is pinning its hopes for the future on a reported rise in ARPA (average revenue per advertiser) reporting that, “Over 75 percent of agents and new-home developers are now taking at least one additional product and over 30 percent of their spend in April was on additional advertising products”.  This goes some way to counterbalancing the admission that the total number of advertisers has not risen over last year.

UpMyStreet dates back to 1998 and survived the original dotcom boom before running into financial troubles in 2003.  It was sold to uSwitch which was in turn bought by EW Scripps and then passed on to the Forward Internet group in 2009 but the company that now finds itself in Zoopla’s hands is a bit of a spent brand mostly of worth for the 1.1 million unique visitors it attracts (Comscore, March 2012).

Zoopla already attracts three times that many. Just what Zoopla paid to have that traffic redirected has not been disclosed, and Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman simply notes that; “This acquisition is a natural fit for us and allows us to further extend our audience and reach for the benefit of our members.”

The switch to uniform, co-branded Immonet platforms is part of an agreement reached between Immonet and Madsack in February (read our report here – clients only). In terms of this agreement Madsack sold the real estate platforms of its 15 regional newspaper sites to Immonet in exchange of a 11.28 percent stake in Immonet. Madsack gave up all ambition to operate its own real estate platforms; handed full operational and management control of its 15 real estate platforms over to Immonet and agreed to give Immonet marketing and sales support going forward. A 16th newspaper, Lübecker Nachrichten, later decided to join the party, although Madsack only has a minority stake in it.

The German anti-trust authority approved the deal in March.

Here is the list of 16 newspapers to have Immonet-powered real estate platforms by the end of May. The same template (frontend) is used, and customized with the logo and corporate colors of every newspaper.

These papers already have Immonet-front- and -backends today:

* Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung and Neue Presse of publisher Madsack;

* Göttinger Tageblatt of publisher Göttinger Tageblatt;

* Aller Zeitung and Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung of publisher Adolf Enke;

* Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung of the Peiner Allgemeine Zeitung Verlagsgesellschaft;

* Schaumburger Nachrichten of the Schaumburger Nachrichten Verlagsgesellschaft;

These will get theirs in the next few weeks:

* Oberhessische Presse of the HITZEROTH Druck + Medien;

* Waldeckischer Landeszeitung and Frankenberger Zeitung of Wilhelm Bing

Druckerei und Verlag;

* Leipziger Volkszeitung and Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten of the Leipziger Verlags- und Druckereigesellschaft and Verlag Dresdner Nachrichten;

* Lübecker Nachrichten of Lübecker Nachrichten;

* Ostsee-Zeitung of publisher Ostsee-Zeitung and

* Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung of publisher Märkische Verlags- und Druckgesellschaft in Potsdam.

Read the media release (in German) here.

The gossip about Zillow has just gotten ”juicier.” Amidst a rumor that Zillow is about to spend $45 million to buy rental management software firm RentJuice, the third-largest online real estate marketplace has just announced its new Android rental app. Both follow on the heels of Zillow’s launch of Rent Zestimates. (For even more on Zillow doings, and industry-insider ponderings about what’s really going on, read our upcoming CIR.)

RentJuice made its own important announcement two weeks ago, making it an even “juicier” buy for Zillow. The new RentJuice product is called Common Application. The new online and mobile-enabled tool could be described as a Facebook Connect for rental listings. With the new Common Application, a prospective renter can complete her or his online application one time and then send it in one-click thereafter to any property she favors. The tool also enables online and smart-phone or tablet-based lease application as well

Here’s the Zillow app news release: 

Zillow Launches First Mobile App for Rentals

Zillow Rentals for Android App is Company’s 10th Mobile App; Provides Access to Rent Zestimates, Allows Renters to Compare Favorite Homes Side-by-Side

SEATTLE, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z), the leading real estate information marketplace, today announced the launch of Zillow® Rentals for Android™ App, the company’s first dedicated rentals app, optimized for renters who need to make decisions quickly.

The Zillow Rentals for Android App is the only rentals app that allows users to access Rent Zestimates® – Zillow’s estimated rent prices on more than 100 million U.S. homes and apartments. Additionally, the app allows rental shoppers to: Compare and contrast favorite homes on a side-by-side list, a rental app feature exclusive to Zillow. Draw one or more boundaries around neighborhoods to narrow a search by geography. Use Android’s voice search capabilities to quickly search for-rent homes in an area. Quickly browse color-coded results organized by time on market, so renters know which homes are new to the market and which have already been viewed. Automatically receive on-screen notifications when new rental homes matching search criteria hit the market, with no login or sign-up required. Contact landlords by phone or email instantly. These properties are automatically added to the renter’s list of favorites with a time stamp to help keep track of when landlords were contacted.

“Renters shop differently from buyers and look at many homes quickly, in specific locations, in a short amount of time,” said Jeremy Wacksman, vice president of consumer marketing and mobile at Zillow. “The Zillow Rentals for Android App was created specifically to address their needs by organizing listings in an easily-accessible way and allowing them to shop for the right home on location, in the neighborhood where they want to live.”

This is Zillow’s 10th mobile app, adding to the most popular suite of mobile real estate apps with dedicated apps available on every major platform. Zillow’s early investment in mobile is fueling the company’s growth. In March, 155 million homes were viewed on Zillow mobile apps – that’s 57 homes per second.

Zillow Mobile’s full suite includes: Zillow on iPad®; Zillow iPhone® App; Zillow Mortgage Marketplace iPhone App; Zillow Android App; Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Android App; Zillow Android Tablet App; Zillow BlackBerry® App; Zillow Kindle® Fire App; Zillow Windows® Phone 7 App.

Zillow Rentals for Android App is free to download, and is available in the Google® Play store starting today. Search for “Zillow” in the Google Play store, or find it in the Lifestyle category.

About Zillow, Inc.

Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) is the leading real estate information marketplace, providing vital information about homes, real estate listings and mortgages through its website and mobile applications, enabling homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters to connect with real estate and mortgage professionals best suited to meet their needs. In March 2012, more than 32 million unique users visited Zillow’s websites and mobile applications. Zillow, Inc. operates Zillow.com®, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, Zillow Mobile, Postlets® and Diverse Solutions. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow.com, Zillow, Zestimate and Postlets are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. Diverse Solutions is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

Kindle Fire is a trademark of Seesaw, LLC. iPhone and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Android is a trademark of Google Inc. Google is a registered trademark of Google Inc. BlackBerry is a registered trademark of Research in Motion Limited. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

SOURCE  Zillow, Inc.

DPG Marketing Director, Sheraz Dar, ascribes the growth to the traditional frenetic media activity seen by U.K. property portals at the start of the year;“Over the past year DPG’s advertising investment accounted for over half of the total among the major portals and both PrimeLocation.com and FindaProperty.com were on TV during the first 3 months of 2012. This has helped create a sustained increase in visits and inquiries that’s been building now for many months and we are delighted our customers are seeing the real, tangible benefits of investing in us.”

Here’s the earnings report: 

McClatchy Reports First Quarter 2012 Results

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),  the organization responsible for managing URLS and assigning top level domains, has had to take offline its electronic TLD application system. The deadline for  dot-MLS and other TLD applications was first extended to April 20 and is now in limbo until the system is repaired. According to ICANN ongoing announcements, a system error enabled applicants to view some of the other applicants’ names, though ICANN has said it has no evidence of being hacked.

We’re staying in touch with Brian Larson, corporate secretary at MLS Domains Association, for news on whether the association had secured enough MLSs committed to purchase of dot-MLS sites to make its TLD application feasible. As well, we’re hoping to find out if the China-based owners of www.mls.com, who are not MLS affiliated, will be applying as well.  The May 1 “reveal date” (when anyone can see all applications) has also been moved back to an unknown date.

On the other end of the scale, Japan, China, Brazil and Mexico have relatively small Internet penetration, Baker says, and therefore the online real estate reach is smaller (none of them scored more than 2 percent reach in his survey).

It should be noted that Baker looked at unique visitors to a site and compared it to the overall population of the country and not the number of Internet users which, for Western-oriented countries ,wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but could unfairly penalize developing nations.

So where did Canada fall out? Pretty much right in the middle. The leading site was Realtor.ca which reached 7.1 percent of Canadian consumers.

Now that the trade body has ruled that the merger does not reduce competition and so does not need to be approved by the Competition Commission the move is widely expected to be completed within the next few weeks. That should then lead to the creation of what will arguably be the only realistic competition for top-dog Rightmove.

In official statements all concerned applauded the decision. Alex Chesterman, Zoopla Founder and CEO, described the merger as; “pro-competitive and is good news for both our users and customers.” Mark Milner, CEO of the Digital Property Group nodded at Rightmove’s prior dominance when he said that; “this is an important day for the industry, given the long-awaited balance in the market that this deal will deliver. It has been a long time coming and the enhanced value that the combined business will provide will make this deal a clear win for U.K. estate agents, letting agents and housebuilders.” Martin Morgan, Chief Executive of DMGT was equally clear about what the target will be for the merged entity; “we now have the opportunity to challenge the market leader in the online property sector, to the benefit of both consumers and clients”.

Here’s the earnings release:

Gannett Co., Inc. Reports First Quarter Results 

Reported Earnings per Diluted Share of $0.28, Non-GAAP Earnings per Diluted Share of $0.34
Operating Cash Flow Totaled $204 million Excluding Special Items
Free Cash Flow Totaled $148 million
Operating Revenues Totaled $1.22 billion
Company-Wide Digital Revenues Increased 8 percent Year-Over-Year

MCLEAN, Va., April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ –Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), a leading international media and marketing solutions company, today reported first quarter financial results. Earnings per diluted share, on a GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis were $0.28 for the first quarter of 2012 compared to $0.37 for the first quarter last year. Excluding special items in 2012 and 2011, first quarter earnings per diluted share were $0.34 compared to $0.41 for the same quarter in 2011.

Gracia Martore, president and chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased with the progress we are making on the strategic initiatives underway across the company that will position Gannett for success in the digital age. Key highlights from the first quarter include launching a new all-access, all-platform content subscription model in six markets, rolling out Digital Marketing Services in our top markets and paving the way for important new advertising and marketing revenue opportunities through the expansion of our USA TODAY Sports Media Group. We also completed approximately $20 million of the $65 million of planned 2012 strategic initiative investments. We expect to see returns on our strategic initiative investments as the year progresses and for many years to come. We are squarely focused on leveraging the iconic brands, local connections and financial strength that differentiate our business to implement our growth plan while returning $1.3 billion to investors by 2015.”

Martore continued, “Our first quarter results were impacted by spending on strategic investments and advertising softness, particularly during January’s industry-wide slowdown. Improving advertising activity in February and March, while encouraging, did not overcome the slow start to the year. Importantly, each of our businesses remained solidly profitable, and our Broadcasting and Digital segments delivered strong revenue growth of 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Digital revenue growth of 13 percent in our Publishing segment underscored the success we are achieving in establishing the robust content and advertising platforms that will power our renewed growth.”

In addition to investments in strategic initiatives, results for the first quarter of 2012 include net special charges affecting operating income related to facility consolidations and workforce restructuring. Facility consolidation charges totaled $4.8 million ($2.9 million after tax or $0.01 per share) reflecting primarily accelerated depreciation costs associated with the transfer of production activities for The Cincinnati Enquirer to a third-party printer in Columbus, Ohio announced in the fourth quarter last year. Workforce restructuring charges of $16.3 million ($9.7 million after tax or$0.04 per share) reflect principally the impact of an early retirement offer plan announced in the first quarter.

Results for the first quarter of 2011 included $7.7 million of non-cash charges primarily associated with facility consolidations ($4.6 million after-tax or $0.02 per share) and $6.0 million in costs due to workforce restructuring ($3.9 million after-tax or $0.02 per share).

Amounts reported in accordance with GAAP are contained in Tables 1 and 2. Certain amounts and comparisons included in the following discussion of GAAP results are supplemented by discussions which exclude the effect of special items. Details of these special items and their effect on GAAP results are included on the Non-GAAP Financial Information Tables 3 through 6 attached to this release. The company’s basis for providing discussions of non-GAAP results is detailed below.

CONTINUING OPERATIONS

Net income attributable to Gannett in the first quarter of 2012 totaled $68.2 million while net income attributable to Gannett on a non-GAAP basis was $80.8 million. Reported operating income was $135.7 million and non-GAAP operating income totaled $156.7 million. Operating cash flow in the quarter (a non-GAAP term defined as operating income plus special items, depreciation and amortization) was $204.3 million.

Total operating revenues for the company in the first quarter totaled $1.22 billion, a decline of 2.6 percent. Digital segment revenues were almost 7 percent higher reflecting primarily solid revenue growth at CareerBuilder. A 7.5 percent increase in Broadcasting segment revenues was driven by stronger advertising demand and growth in retransmission revenue. Publishing segment revenues declined 6.0 percent reflecting, in part, the impact of sluggish economic growth on advertising demand early in the quarter.

Operating expenses including the special charges noted above were $1.08 billion in the first quarter this year compared to $1.07 billion in the first quarter last year. Continuing cost control and efficiency efforts company-wide were offset in part by $20 million of initiative investments noted previously that impacted the publishing segment primarily and an increase of approximately $6 million in pension expense. On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses which exclude special items and include the impact of the investment in strategic initiatives and pension expense totaled$1.06 billion, relatively unchanged from the first quarter a year ago. Non-GAAP operating expenses in the Publishing segment were lower in the quarter reflecting the impact of continuing efficiency efforts partially offset by investments in strategic initiatives. Broadcast segment expenses were higher in the quarter due, in part, to sales costs associated with higher revenue and strategic initiative investments. The increase in Digital segment expenses related to higher technology support costs associated with new business initiatives and higher sales costs at CareerBuilder, and product development costs at other Digital segment businesses.

During the quarter the company announced a new capital allocation plan that included a 150 percent increase in the annual dividend to $0.80 per share and a $300 million share repurchase program targeted to be completed over the next two years. The purchase of approximately 2.4 million shares was completed during the quarter for $35.5 million.

PUBLISHING

Publishing segment operating revenues in the quarter were $874.1 million compared to $929.8 million in the first quarter last year reflecting soft advertising demand due in part to the tepid pace of the economic recovery. Digital revenues in the Publishing segment were 12.5 percent higher in the quarter.

Advertising revenues totaled $551.4 million compared to $601.7 million in the first quarter of 2011. Year-over-year advertising revenue comparisons improved sequentially within the quarter. Advertising revenues in the U.S. were 8.3 percent lower in the first quarter. At Newsquest, the company’s operations in the UK, advertising revenues declined 6.0 percent, in pounds.  The complete release is on the Gannett website. 

The new online and mobile-enabled tool by rental-relationship-management innovator RentJuice can be described as a Facebook Connect for rental listings. With the new Common Application, a prospective renter can complete her or his online application one time and then send it in one-click thereafter to any property she favors. The tool also enables online and smart-phone or tablet-based lease application as well. To kick off its launch in Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco, every rental application enters the applicant into a drawing for a $500 Amazon gift card.

Here’s the announcement: 

RentJuice Rolls Out Unprecedented Online Lease Signing and “Common Application” for Renters,

Enables New Way of Signing Up Tenants

 Gives Apartment Seekers a Leg Up in Their Hunt, Enables Real Estate Pros to Dial Up Their Leasing Business From a Smartphone or Tablet

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire – Apr 12, 2012) – Renters can now gain an edge in the rental race thanks to the “Common Application” by RentJuice, provider of lease marketing technology to thousands of real estate property managers and brokers. Similar to Facebook Connect, consumers fill out RentJuice’s Common Application online one time and their personal information can subsequently prepopulate any real estate office’s custom leasing-related forms, as well as applications for separate rental units.

 Here you can read more about Immonet’s app and here is the media release on Immobilienscout24′s app. Here is the link to the App Store. Immobilienscout24 first mentioned the app in December last year, when the firm Agentur dasHolthaus, originator of the idea, received financial support from Immobilienscout24 to further develop the app (media release in German here).

From these links (all in German) you’ll see Immonet has 700 house plans to choose from, and Immobilienscout24 “more than a 1,000″.

The Immonet app is designed to be income-generating, and it must be assumed (given the intensity-level of the competition) that Immobilienscout24′s app is also income-generating. (We are still awaiting confirmation.)

(UPDATE: ImmobilienScout24 confirmed their app is income-generating. A listing on the app is part of a package bought by a building company wanting to advertise on the portal, a spokesman said.)

In Immonet’s case, consumer inquiries to building companies (leads) generated by the app are paid for by the participating building companies. How much, is not known.

Other income-generating ideas both portals introduced in the past 15 months:

* Both acquired and then integrated move management portals last year (here and here);

* Both developed and launched online property evaluation tools last year (here and here).

Both also released several non-income-generating apps in the course of the past 15 months.

Please note: this update is a correction of a prior version that affiliated the publication with Chicago-based Tribune Company. That is not the case. The entirely separate Tribune Limited organization is based in Nassau, Bahamas.

Prior to the launch of classified listings, the Marketplace product offers ad sales opportunities to auto dealers, real estate practitioners, property managers and service firms through its business directory product. Marketplace enables a directory of local businesses, typically at no charge to the business, with upsells that boost the publisher’s bottom line. Coupon capability, and ad tracking / analytics are part of the package. While not the only Marketplace product for publishers, Mediaphormedia’s Marketplace has a long history of working with media clients that include Ogden Publishing Corp., Amarillo (TX) Globe News, and Fayetteville (AR) Flyer. For what Marketplace can do for classifieds, take a look at WorldClassifieds, the classified home of The World Company’s flagship newspaper, the Lawrence (KS) Journal World.