Now RE+AD This: July

The real estate industry is accelerating towards a digital future, as the largest digital media companies pull the plug on housing and credit advertisers. 

The Big Story This Month: Google's Real Estate Ad Policy

Google and Facebook (probably) capture more of the $30B annual real estate ad spending than all of the listing portals combined. 

However, similar to Facebook, Google recently announced it will be removing certain demographic and zip targeting for real estate and credit brands. As consumers searching and browsing the web will see less relevant, targeted advertising, site and customer traffic for real estate enterprises, agents, lenders, brokers, proptechs, CRE and many others will dramatically decline.

Additional Reading:

• Audience Town: POV
• AdExchanger: Google To Ban Discriminatory Targeting For Housing, Employment And Credit Ads
• HousingWire: Google Will Make It Impossible For Lenders And Realtors To Target Consumers Based On ZIP Code, Demographics

Facebook Boycotted by the Largest Brands in the World

Facebook had been a strong and affordable advertising platform for every sized real estate business until August 2018 when they removed the “likely-to-move” consumer segment from their targeting menu due to fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Then, in early 2019, they went even further by removing zip code and demographic targeting after an FHA settlement.

Now, Facebook is digging in on their content policy, which allows hate speech to proliferate on their site, which has lead to a growing list of major ad clients cancelling, pausing, or boycotting their campaigns.

Boycotting Facebook is a values-based decision for any company. We recommend when advertising anywhere - especially social - these core principles are adhered to:

• Avoid being associated with hate or negative content using manual and technology controls. 
• A diverse mix of digital media and content channels must be rotated into all paid and organic marketing. 
• Do not become dependent on Facebook or Google for more than 50% of leads and traffic.

In Other News...

Real estate advertising is stable vs other local industries: Which local industries are advertising, and where are they doing it? Borrell’s recent survey of 238 ad managers breaks it all down, with real estate offices and brokers staying active across email, banners, video, and social.

The "Buy it Now" house button: As experts in the new construction home buying journey, Bokka Group’s latest research answers: “Will customers be buying new homes completely online anytime soon? The answer is yes.”

The shift to digital video advertising - real estate lags but will catch up soon: With TV advertising becoming easier and more affordable through Connected TV and Smart TV, big brands are increasingly shifting their ad spend away from linear (e.g. regular) TV and into these digital streams.

PropTech going strong as real estate transforms: PropTech (aka Real Estate Tech) is a massive global industry that has ingested tens of billions of dollars of VC money to make the physical, financial, and transactional sides of real estate easier. 2019 saw $18.2B of investment, and while 2020 is trending to come in lower ($6.3B YTD), there are still substantial dollars being invested, proving that when the largest industry in the world gets disrupted, start-ups are on the scene to capitalize on the digital transformation.

Audience Town Announcements:

MoxiWorks Welcomes Audience Town to Partner Program 

MoxiWorks, the leading real estate technology platform, has announced Audience Town as the newest member of its MoxiCloud Partner Program. With this partnership, brokerages are able to unlock audience data at increased scale, making it more efficient than ever to reach qualified movers in their home buying journey.