Zoopla To Go Toe-To-Toe with OnTheMarket as New Campaign Launches

The UK's number-two portal Zoopla will push its marketing to the next level this summer with an advertising campaign designed to fight off a "revitalised" OnTheMarket.

Zoopla has launched an eight-week campaign that it says will "saturate" popular events including the Euros and FA Cup finals across television, social media and YouTube.

The campaign also includes regional marketing in "high-performing regions of the North West and West Midlands" on radio, OOH advertising and Zoopla-sponsored taxis.

Zoopla has increased its marketing spend for 2024 by 41%, which the firm claims will see an uplift in vendor leads for agents by circa 34%.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Negotiator spanning topics such as data, growth and agents' "fire hose" approach to lead generation, Charlie Bryant, CEO at Zoopla, said:

"We are considerably ahead of OTM in terms of consumer preference, traffic and many other metrics, whatever the claims made to the contrary.

"They ARE getting more traffic and OTM does have traction but our audience is more unique and we still have considerable strongholds including London, Scotland and lettings where we have for many years been the No.1 portal."

Nikki Cole, director of national sales at Zoopla, said:

"One in two UK adults turn to Zoopla first when they’re looking for a valuation and our latest marketing campaign continues to build on this successful platform.

"We’re all about delivering agents prepared and educated sellers through our marketing and getting the property market moving faster as a result."

Zoopla has been namedropped by more than one industry voice as a potential acquisition target for the US-based CoStar Group, which bought Zoopla's rival portal OnTheMarket for $100M in December.

Charlie Bryant's comments don't sound like the whimperings of an outgoing CEO but he will be highly aware that financial losses and pressure from above (Rightmove) and below (OnTheMarket) mean Zoopla isn't the same brand it was when it was bought by private equity firm Silver Lake for $3 billion in 2018.

With murmurings that the portal may be up for sale at a cut-price deal, any traction the purple portal can drum up against the upstart OnTheMarket will be of huge significance should any incoming bids try to gazunder Zoopla.