Ten Points of View:
- Is Zillow Really Helping Your Sales? by Mark Eckenrode, Homestomper
- Zillow, Newspapers Launch Real Estate Ad Network by Stan Schroeder, Mashable
- Zillow Partners With Newspapers to Create Real Estate Ad Network by Joseph Ferrara, Sellsius
- Zillow increases advertising relationship with failing Newspapers
- Can Zillow help struggling newspapers? by John Cook, SeattlePI
- Zillow, Newspapers Launch Real Estate Ad Network by Andrew Kantor, VAR Buzz
- Scripps joins ad network with Zillow, others Business Courier of Cincinnati
- Real Estate Portal in Bed with Newspapers Mike Andrew’s Real Estate Tips
- Zillow Ad Network reaches 63 million real estate consumers by Greg Schwartz, Zillow
- Zillow Press Release
Good, Bad, or Ugly?
None of those. It’s predictable. We’ve always known Zillow to be a media company and there is no surprise in this at all- they have great traffic and space to sell like most the other major blogs and websites. Also, they tipped everyone off last fall when they announced they were partnering with newspapers. This has never been a secret- anyone who thought using penny ads to recoup Barton’s millions wasn’t looking at the big picture. They’re a media company that is using real estate listings as a means to generate revenue.
Yes, ads can be distracting for people coming to the site for home valuations, but is it really any different than Realtor.com’s sidebar (featuring ads), Homes.com (featuring Verizon and Vonage) or Trulia (currently displaying FHA.gov and ZIP Realty in ad spaces) OR the trillions of widgets on Realtors’ blog sidebars? Zillow’s business plan to make money isn’t new or news, it’s expected.
There are far worse things these media companies (Zillow, Trulia, et al.) have, are and will do in the future… any guesses as to what those things are?
