Zoopla "Shares the Facts" About "Misleading" OnTheMarket Traffic Claims As Rivalry Heats Up

Zoopla has emailed its customers rebutting traffic claims by rival portal OnTheMarket (OTM) that the CoStar-owned challenger portal is now the second most popular destination for home seekers in the United Kingdom.

OTM said it had 56 million web visitors in September, compared to Zoopla’s 47 million, making it No.2 by web traffic.

Zoopla however disputed this claim by saying OTM’s traffic spike was due to "using low-quality display advertising with the aim of creating a headline."

"...we believe it’s important to share the facts so you can better understand the claims and tactics being deployed to “Win your appreciation", said Zoopla.

"OTM’s strategy seems to be focused on increasing traffic numbers rather than engaging serious movers."

Zoopla went on to say that OTM's figures also do not paint a consistent picture, whereby Zoopla has consistently been a more popular destination than OnTheMarket across 2024, while also saying that visitors to Zoopla's portal spend twice as long on a visit than a visitor to OnTheMarket.

Zoopla cited SimilarWeb figures saying while paid traffic on OTM rose 209% in September, visitor duration on OTM dropped by 9.8%, the bounce rate was 12.4% and page views per visit declined by 20.8%.

An OnTheMarket spokesperson said:

"We are grateful to Zoopla for highlighting that more people visited OnTheMarket than their site. Since CoStar Group’s acquisition we’ve been clear about our goal to become the UK’s market leading portal.

"Our rapid rate of growth shows that we are delivering on CoStar Group’s long-standing strategy of partnering with its customers to generate high-intent leads at a fraction of the cost of our rivals.

"The facts are clear that throughout 2024 we have seen a huge increase in leads, time spent on the site and overall traffic, exceeding Zoopla’s in September."

OnTheMarket is set to benefit from CoStar Group's deep pockets in the coming years as it ramps up its ambitions to take on Zoopla and Rightmove. CoStar CEO Andy Florance is on the record saying he is invested in a ten-year strategy for OnTheMarket, which is likely to be rebranded as Homes.com.

Zoopla, meanwhile, has turned around its fortunes after two years of continued losses, posting a profit of £18.8 million in 2023:

Online Marketplaces has reached out to Zoopla for further comment.