The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ‘informally resolved’ an anonymous complaint that OnTheMarket made misleading claims in its advertising.
Ads from the online property portal suggested that its web traffic had overtaken that of rival Zoopla, with the graphic showing OnTheMarket traffic reaching over 55 million views and Zoopla hovering between 45-50 million.
The figures were attributed to Google Analytics on the ad, with the text claiming: ‘Zoopla reports 47 million monthly sessions. OnTheMarket had over 56 million sessions in Sept-24, source Google Analytics’.
OnTheMarket is reported in the property press as having withdrawn the campaign materials, leading ASA to close the case without conducting a formal investigation. OnTheMarket’s parent company Agents’ Mutual Ltd is listed on the ‘informally resolved’ section of the ASA website as of the 14th May, but the details of the complaint have been removed.
When the ads first appeared, Zoopla CEO Charlie Bryant publicly criticised the company and claimed it ‘seems to be focused on increasing traffic numbers rather than engaging serious movers’.
In response, OnTheMarket was reported as thanking Zoopla for the publicity, commenting: ‘We are grateful to Zoopla for highlighting that more people visited OnTheMarket than their site’.
In 2018, complaints about a TV ad from OnTheMarket were upheld by ASA, after the company claimed agents were exclusively advertising on the portal 24 hours before its competitors. A further complaint about a poster on the London Underground was not upheld.
