Rightmove is delivering a lead to advertisers – almost entirely estate and letting agents – at the rate of one every second.
Hot on the heels of Zoopla reporting a record start to the year, Rightmove this morning delivered a similarly strong picture to its shareholders in a trading statement covering the period January 1 to April 30.
The portal said page impressions were up 14% on the same period last year, with a 30% increase in inquiries – to a record 14.8m leads – for its advertisers.
Rightmove set a new monthly record in January for traffic, with 1.45bn page views. It says: “The growth in traffic is being driven by mobile with our latest highly rated mobile apps and mobile optimised website delivering over 2bn pages.”
The statement is decidedly coy on actual average revenue per advertising, telling shareholders only that it has shown “healthy growth”.
However, it does say that agents bought more additional advertising products and packages, in addition to paying increased subscriptions.
Rightmove forecasts: “With healthy growth in average spend per advertiser so far this year and an improving UK property market, the board remains confident of meeting its expectations for the year.
The number of advertisers in total is 18,743 – of whom 16,458 are agents, a rise of 2% since the start of the year.
CEO Nick McKittrick said: “Rightmove’s popularity continues to grow with traffic setting new records and further increasing the market leading reach we provide for customers’ properties and brands.”
At today’s AGM, Rightmove shareholders will be told to expect a dividend of 17p per share, to be paid out on June 6.
Comments (9)
I don't think they do provide leads. I look at them as providing traffic.
An overpriced property with a trashy listing… won't get many "leads". A property with a killer listing and attractive pricing will be on fire.
They provide a shop window. What you put in your window, how you price, and how present it, are what makes the difference.
Google "Marketing mix" and the "7 P's" and "Bad workmen blame their tools".
"They provide a shop window. What you put in your window, how you price, and how present it, are what makes the difference."
This one gets MY vote for "Comment of the Week… EVERY week! 😉
It's funny how my Rightmove and Zoopla account managers are crawling over my Branch managers saying how much better than each other they are at the moment – statistics aye?……….funny thing is I hadn't seen sight or sound of either in the last 18 months or so…..very shallow and I think we'll see more or this meaningless dire tribe from both sides as the AM launch nears.
Primelocation deliver a lead to an agent in London every 160th of a second……..apparently!
Just as well you dont see them mate, it will only be to increase your fees.
They talk about "impressions" – impressions don't mean a thing, unique page views do. They also talk about "page views" – again these don't mean a thing because each visitor has to hit at least 4 pages to see ONE property. They claim to have around 20,000 agencies advertising – there are 86400 seconds in a day so that balances out to roughly ONE lead every 4 days PER AGENCY …. where does that offer value for money.
They SHOULD be talking about bounce rates, social interaction and TOP (time on page) instead they release meaningless figures that hype up their numbers.
They also talk about their "Mobile optimised website" . Their site is NOT mobile optimsed in one bit, it looks like **** on my mobile, iPad and when I scale my browser down.
Agents should expect more from Rightmove – considering the money they pay for all this!
Hi PeeBee, no i dont, I used to and they were complete W**k*rs, always wanting to up fees, most of the leads were just trash, oc there were good leads but only phone call leads, not the normal Mr Smith looking for a property in London between £200k – £1m.
I also remember when i was paying £7k a month, yes thats not a typo, they even made mistakes then, always in their favour!
Okay – thanks for the reply. Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to dig a bit.
Question – as I take it you are in London from what you have posted, and I am based way 'oop North, I can only go off what I read about your market – am I right in thinking that there is way less dependency on RM (or for any portal for that matter) than in other parts of the country?
ALL we Agents should be considering, with ANY marketing tool (and that is all that portals are…), is ROI. IF a portal 'pays' for itself – either with the sales/lettings leads it supplies, or by the gaining of instructions due solely to being on that particular portal – then it is worth the dosh, surely?
I am sure that you did a risk analysis before dropping RM, Paul. May I ask whether, in your honest opinion, it has so far proved to be a well-taken risk?
Last question. IF RM's charges were, say, same as those that AM are offering their Members, would you be back on the site in a heartbeat?
Hi Paull – I don't think we've 'spoken' as yet.
Do you actually subscribe to Rightmove?
If so – why?
"However, it does say that agents bought more additional advertising products and packages, in addition to paying increased subscriptions."
Needs rewording
"However, it does say that they managed to force more rubbish additional advertising products and packages, in addition to the crazy increased subscriptions", that really do nothing at all apart from generate revenue.