Zoopla buys UpMyStreet
Zoopla has just turned another page in the history of British property portals with the acquisition of UpMyStreet – one of the earliest property sites in the country.
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.”
Record growth at DPG
The U.K.’s Digital Property Group (DPG) is enjoying a golden patch according to a slew of announcements from the stable.
Firstly the number of visits is up by 20 per cent on last year’s first quarter to 18.2 million.
Next the number of email and phone leads is up over 40 per cent over the same period and the group recently signed its 15,000th member which means a 29 per cent growth compared to last year.
With the DPG/Zoopla merger now given the green light the DPG board can also celebrate the 1,200 new estate and letting agent branches added to Zoopla’s to its website in Q1.
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.”
Zoopla renews ties with Johnston
U.K. regional publisher Johnston Press, which has a stable of over 230 newspapers and some 270 local websites, is launching a new property platform across all its sites powered by Zoopla’s property offerings. The deal means that Johnson continues to benefit from Zoopla’s technology while Zoopla’s clients get increased exposure across the network of local sites.
Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Zoopla commented: “We are delighted to be launching this strategic partnership with Johnston Press, one of the U.K.’s leading regional media groups. It is a win for consumers and advertisers of both businesses, giving consumers of Johnston Press media access to an enhanced online property offering and providing advertisers on the Zoopla network access to an even wider audience across the U.K.”
The news is the latest in a series of such announcements from Zoopla about partnering printed press. Apart from an earlier agreement with Johnston, Zoopla also supplies the technology for the property offerings of Cumbrian Newspapers and News International.
Property Sorter launches in U.K.
Property Sorter is more than just another property portal; it’s living proof that you can never tell where innovation will come from. Property observers have already noted that the new service cherrypicks the best from existing players, such as Rightmove’s ‘Draw a Search’ tool and Zoopla’s price histories. It draws on Zoopla’s property database and picks out duplicates which are then rolled into a single listing with comparison photos and asking prices from different agents.
Properties can be displayed in a table format and sorted by tenure/leasehold length, floor space, or any other criteria.
In short it’s a clever mashup of existing tools and new approaches and as such may hold some useful lessons for the established players. Continue reading
Zoopla and TheMoveChannel team up
International property site TheMoveChannel.com, which hosts listings from over 100 countries for agents and private owners alike, has signed with Zoopla to add that portal’s U.K. property to its database.
Overseas interest in the U.K. property market is growing, not least because steady purchase prices, but rising rents mean that the buy-to-let market is thriving.
TheMoveChannel is part of Lead Galaxy whose Director Dan Johnson observed: “Lead Galaxy is thrilled to announce this partnership between TheMoveChannel.com and Zoopla. This year, investors from China, Russia and Scandinavia have all shown a growing interest in U.K. property, particularly the booming buy-to-let market. Nearly 50 percent of our visitors are based outside the U.K., and combining TheMoveChannel.com’s international presence with Zoopla’s portfolio will provide investment opportunities to buyers who otherwise wouldn’t necessarily be aware of them.”
Zoopla/DMGT deal and the newspaper merry-go-round
While pundits are busy contemplating the impact of the Zoopla merger on Rightmove, the impact of Zoopla’s tie-in with the Digital Property Group is likely to be just as significant for newspaper classifieds.
Prior to the merger Zoopla had embarked on a series of exclusive deals with newspaper publishers and now that Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) controls 55 per cent of the newly merged company this presumably means that DMGT is left powering a number of newspaper sites that could be classed as rivals. Continue reading
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