Zoopla, the real estate startup, is now one of the top 100 most visited sites in the UK and number two in its space. That’s according to web measurement firm Experian Hitwise’s January figures, says Zoopla, which positions the site at 98 and ahead of older rivals Findaproperty (ranked 125th) and Primelocation (ranked 193rd).
The three year-old startup can’t, however, claim to best market leader Rightmove. This time quoting MediaTel/UKOM data provided by Nielsen for December, Zoopla bags the number two spot with over a million unique visitors for the month but less than half of that seen by Rightmove. It should also be noted that during this period of growth, Zoopla has run a high profile TV ad campaign.
That’s good old fashioned television, which given Zoopla’s consumer-facing proposition appears to still be capable of delivering eye balls. It doesn’t come cheap either but the UK startup is pretty well funded having raised a further £3.25 million in funding last December (adding to the £3.75 million already raised in January 2009). In its defense, Zoopla is keen to point out that all of its main competitors have been on the telly during this period so it’s a fair comparison.
Still, either way, as we’ve noted in the past, Zoopla has a lot of momentum of late as born out by these figures and its continued acquisition spree, which has seen it roll up competitors and complementary sites in equal measure.
In August of last year, Zoopla acquired property technology company Byteplay Ltd, whose assets include OnOneMap.com, DotHomes.com and Extate.com, along with operating the local ‘propertygazette’ websites bristolpropertygazette.co.uk and coventrypropertygazette.co.uk and a host of others covering UK towns and cities. This followed the purchase of the PropertyFinder Group the year before. While most recently, Zoopla acquired Houseprices.co.uk to complement its own offering.