Realtor.com® "House Wrap" Shows You Can't Find Your Dream Home When It's Not There

Experiential ad asks: "Searching for a home to buy on Zillow? You're missing out on thousands like this"

News provided by

realtor.com

Nov 12, 2015, 09:00 ET

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination operated by News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc., today wrapped a for-sale home in Austin, Texas, visibly removing it from the residential block to vividly illustrate that you might be missing out on your dream home if you only search on Zillow.com. The experiential advertisement is a part of realtor.com®'s comparative advertising campaign that shows how realtor.com® lists many more MLS-listed, for-sale homes than its chief competitor.

The advertising campaign is based on realtor.com®'s statistical analysis conducted in October 2015, which estimates that realtor.com® has approximately 20 percent – or an estimated 300,000 – more MLS-listed, for-sale homes nationwide than Zillow.com. The gap is wider in certain markets, increasing to 109 percent in Salt Lake City, for example. 

"Buying a home is one of the biggest commitments many of us will ever make, so it's not a decision we enter into lightly," said Nate Johnson, chief marketing officer for realtor.com®. "How confident would you feel about your decision if you knew 20 percent or more of your choices in MLS-listed homes for sale were missing from the real estate site you were using? This advertising campaign draws attention to the fact that, unlike our competitors, realtor.com® provides the most comprehensive view of MLS-listed, for-sale homes. It's why realtor.com® is the best – and truest – provider of real estate information and services for buyers and sellers in the nation."

To illustrate the extent to which consumers may be missing out on homes for sale when using the competition, realtor.com®'s new experiential advertisement consists of fully wrapping a home that is currently on the market, located at 8600 Dulcet Drive in Austin, Texas 78745 and brokered by GoodLife Realty. The all-black covering is emblazoned with, "Searching for a home to buy on Zillow? You're missing out on thousands like this," and provides a visual representation of the seriousness of competitor gaps in MLS-listed, for-sale homes. The house will be wrapped until Nov. 14, and on Nov. 15, GoodLife Realty will host an open house in the home from 1-4 p.m.

Based on internal analysis conducted in October, realtor.com® provides at least 20 percent more – or an estimated 300,000 more – MLS-listed homes among its for-sale listings nationwide than Zillow.com. This realtor.com® listings advantage is even greater in some local markets including:

Metropolitan Statistical Area
(MSA)*

Realtor.com® Listings Advantage
(compared to Zillow.com)

Austin

33 percent

Denver

30 percent

Memphis, Tenn.

42 percent

Miami

52 percent

New Orleans

67 percent

Salt Lake City

109 percent

San Diego

48 percent

* Results based on comparing MLS-listed homes for sale in the U.S. Office of Management and
Budget's (OMB's) Metropolitan Statistical Area ("MSA") for the cities indicated; except for Miami,
where the comparison was for OMB's Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall Metro Division of its MSA for
Miami.  Results shown are as of approximately late October 2015, and are not necessarily
representative of other metro areas or locales.

The national campaign also includes different variations of animated banner advertising that display the amount of homes currently for sale in hot housing markets as listed on realtor.com® versus Zillow.com.  Specific markets featured in these ads include Austin, San Diego, Miami, Denver and New Orleans.  

Additionally, static digital ads appear on major online news and consumer websites such as Google, Curbed, and Yahoo!, as well as entertainment and social media platforms including Spotify, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The ads feature headlines such as:

  • "There are more homes for sale than Zillow's showing you. Realtor.com® – search more homes for sale,"
  • "If you're looking to buy your perfect home, Zillow might not have it. Realtor.com® – search more homes for sale," and
  • "More homes on realtor.com® means more homes that could be yours. Realtor.com® – search more homes for sale."

The campaign was developed with the help of Pereira & O'Dell New York, realtor.com®'s advertising agency of record.

About Move, Inc. and realtor.com®

Move, Inc. operates the realtor.com® website and mobile experiences, which provide buyers, sellers and renters of homes with the information, tools and professional expertise they need to discover and create their perfect home. News Corp [NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] acquired Move in November 2014, and realtor.com® quickly established itself as the fastest growing online real estate service provider in the first half of 2015 as measured by comScore.

As the official website of the National Association of REALTORS®, consumers know they can look to realtor.com® for the most comprehensive and accurate information anytime, anywhere. With relationships with approximately 800 multiple listing services (MLS), realtor.com® has more than 3 million for-sale listings, which account for more than 97 percent of all MLS-listed for-sale properties. More than 90 percent of the listings are updated every 15 minutes. Move's network of websites provides consumers a wealth of innovative tools, including Doorsteps®, Moving.com™, SeniorHousingNetSM and others. Move supports real estate professionals by providing many services to grow their businesses in an increasing digital, on-demand world, including ListHub™, the nation's leading listing syndicator and centralized intelligence platform for the real estate industry; TigerLead®; Top Producer® Systems; and FiveStreetSM and Reesio as well as many free services.

Forward-Looking Statements

This document contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance as of the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global economic, business, competitive market and regulatory and other factors. More detailed information about these and other factors that could affect future results is contained in News Corp's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The "forward-looking statements" included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and we do not have any obligation to publicly update any "forward-looking statements" to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law. 

Media Contact: Lexie Puckett [email protected] 805-453-3053

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SOURCE realtor.com

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