With regards to the property market, I seriously believe online media will be the dominant media in the near future, perhaps as early as the next 3 years. Traditional media may become a strong complementary media where it completes the online presence and not the other way around. Just look at the bigger developer names and you may understand why I say so. The ‘battleground’ for the top of mind for its potential buyers are already fought online. Every development has its own site, own registration form and even own PR programmes. Seriously, when the property price becomes expensive, buyers need more information than just one page of black and white plus static and limited information.
Coming back to online media, as per reported in The Malay Mail just a few days ago, PropertyGuru said it is now number one in Malaysia. It said its market share grew from 20 percent the year before to 42 percent in 2015. With this number one position in its most competitive market, it is claiming the No. 1 spot for online property platform in South-East Asia too. Its Group CEO, Steve Melhuish said that the results have been verified by digital measurement and analytics firm comScore Inc. Who is comScore? Read here: www.comscore.com Besides Malaysia, its market share in Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia are 90 per cent, 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.
Steve further explained the significance of the Malaysian property market. “If you look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Malaysia, the contribution of the property or real estate sector is one of the largest — if not the largest — of the markets that we are present in. It’s also the second largest in terms of online penetration and online growth after Singapore, so Malaysia is our second largest market in terms of revenue.” However when asked about future acquisitions or listing, Steve said that there’s no hurry for new acquisitions. Initial public offering (IPO) is only potentially happening in the next two years. It received a US$129 million new funding just 9 months ago from a strategic consortium of three investors — global private investment firm TPG, Indonesian media group Emtek Group and Asia-Pacific-based tech venture capital firm Square Peg Capital.
His conclusion mirrors what’s really happening today. “The eyeballs are on online media, but most of the marketing spending goes to traditional media.” Seriously, are there anyone out there who buys as soon as they see a property advertisement in newspaper today? Really? Without checking for more information online before and after talking to the sales person? Happy reading, both online and offline.
written on 20 Apr 2016
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