Zillow and the Newspapers Sitting in a Tree
Zillow Blog broke the news last week that the online real estate portal is partnering with 280 local newspapers to suck their classfieds listings down into their database. From Zillow’s press release:
The newspaper companies included so far in the consortium are Hearst Newspapers; Journal Register Company; Lee Enterprises, Incorporated; Media General, Inc.; MediaNews Group, Inc.; Morris Communications Company, LLC; Paddock Publications; Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; The E.W. Scripps Company; Times-Shamrock Communications and The Day Publishing Company. Newspapers include major market dailies such as The San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, The Tampa Tribune and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
This is a smart move for Zillow – though unfortunately, the exclusivity of the partnership may have been eclipsed by a similar content/ad deal announced this week by Yahoo!
It extends their brand down to the local level while reaching out and giving newspaper advertising people a potential way to juice up their print classifieds sales (which are anemic at best). It also of course, allows Zillow to build a more complete online database of homes on the market by bringing in more listings and FSBOs.
A big challenge here for Zillow is that with so many sources of listings; agents, homeowners, broker feeds and now newspapers, accuracy becomes a bit of an issue – making sure a price change on a property from a single source correlates properly with the others. Zillow’s got smart people on staff so I’m sure they’re working on it.
The most interesting part of this deal is speculating about the future however – a time where Zillow may essentially white label its services (search, Zestimates, community) to the newspapers and just take over their online real estate pages. This is something Greg Sterling at Screenwerk alluded to in his interview with Spencer Rascoff, Zillow’s VP of Marketing and burgeoning blogger.
Rascoff and I also talked about the second phase of the deal, which involves Zillow hosting the real estate sections of these newspaper sites. That part is substantially TBD.
Trulia has already started going down this road (see Tipping Point for Trulia?) and it makes sense for Zillow to follow. There’s no doubt, most newspaper’s online real estate sites are in dire need of help and could use some of its Web 2.0 savvy.
I’m not sure the big publishers would be comfortable surrendering all that control to Zillow but it could be a very attractive opportunity (through a revenue share) for the smaller cash strapped papers and for Zillow a way to bridge that “last mile” (to borrow a telecom term) and get its brand in front of everyday consumers.
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befreenistan | Nov 21, 2007 | Reply
“Cash-strapped” newspapers? This is one of the big fallacies that exists among Web 2.0 and new media pundits. There are very few newspapers that actually lose money or are strapped for cash. Even the most distressed newspaper groups are profitable…even the down-in-the-dumps Journal Register Company. To view newspaper companies as struggling and Web 2.0 real estate companies as their salvation is to me the same as the short-sighted thinking that led old-media types like Time Warner to buy AOL during the bubble. The Web 2.0 start-ups are less than 3 years old. They have never turned a profit. And they rely on external financing for every strategic step. The Web 2.0 companies have revenues that are anemic and they have not proven that they can even generate revenues; they are still testing models. The reality is this: The local community newspaper that has been there for the past 100 years is going to be there 20 years from now. Every major big-city newspaper is going to be around 20 years from now. Can anyone say that with absolute certainty about a Web 2.0 company. I say all this as a start-up entrepreneur and investor. There is nothing inevitable about the success of Zillow or Trulia.
Chris Dowell | Nov 23, 2007 | Reply
I use point 2 agent and it syndicates my listings on many other real estate websites. If I make a change on point 2 it updates all of the syndicated websites.
Metrowest MA Real Estate | Nov 25, 2007 | Reply
While some of the comments made by befreenistan are valid, what is missed is that the fact that revenues from Real Estate have been in serious decline for the past few years. Take a careful look at the Real Estate section of any major newspaer paper in any large city right now and compare it to three years ago – The difference is night and day. While the newspapers may not be losing money, the Real Estate section has taken a serious hit, as more buyers find homes online.
Sol | Nov 25, 2007 | Reply
Prior to 2000, many investors and fsbos turned to the Sunday papers as a vehicle to reach buyers. The web took this market and spread over dozens of fsbo sites.
Zillow is attempting where Homescape has failed and adding transparency where Homegain lacks.
Hawaii Life | Nov 26, 2007 | Reply
Getting those FSBO’s is important. This is a good way to grab them. Interesting move by Zillow.
Chris Dowell | Nov 26, 2007 | Reply
I’m sure the newspapers will release a free marketing tool to consumers. The newspaper ads have been dying because of the lack of pictures and their high costs.
Jason Brown | Jan 4, 2008 | Reply
I agree that the real estate sections have absolutely taken a big hit.