Anthony Catalano’s real estate ad ambitions leap forward with view.com.au
Media and property industry identity Antony Catalano is banking on his ‘freemium’ real estate ad listing model, including properties not yet for sale.
Media and property industry identity Antony Catalano has set his sights on taking the No.2 position in the real estate classifieds market from Nine Entertainment-backed Domain, claiming his revamped view.com.au business is winning clients from his old company.
Mr Catalano’s View Media Group, which he runs with billionaire investor Alex Waislitz, also backed by ANZ and Seven West Media, has launched view.com.au with a “Freemium” model that features 11 million established properties across Australia rather than confining itself to showcasing houses and apartments that are already for sale.
The Freemium listings model for what was previously realestateview.com.au will also allow vendors to list their properties for free, with upgrade options available for real estate agents who want more promotion for their lists and brands.
Announcing the launch of view.com.au last week, Mr Catalano told The Australian that he didn’t necessarily want to compete with market giant REA Group, backed by News Corp (publisher of The Australian), but hit out at Domain – which has market capitalisation about 10 times less than REA – calling it a “one-dimensional listings business that relies on the peaks and troughs of the property market”.
He claimed Domain was losing deals with estate agents around the country, some of whom he said have signed deals with view.com.au, which Mr Catalano said has signed contracts with more than 5000 agencies since February alone.
“We think we can eventually become the No.2 portal in the country and we will do that with the differentiation we have in our model, the free or low price model that is very inexpensive compared to the others and the agencies that we have,” he said.
VMG also includes advertising services group The Today Business, which has property developers as clients, data business Propic and utilities comparison and connection firm Beevo, as well as off-the-plan property project platform AD Group.
ANZ invested $50m in VMG in February and it is also backed by Seven, which ran view.com.au advertising during Saturday’s AFL grand final coverage.
Mr Catalano’s business has also clinched a deal with data business CoreLogic and with mapping group Nearmap, which will provide map and navigation tools on view.com.au, to assist consumers to also look at properties that may not be for sale and “stimulate the market and encourage transactions that might have not otherwise occurred”, said Mr Catalano.
“We feel that restricting consumers to only being able to search for those properties that are currently for sale is extremely limiting. It’s like saying that you should only advertise a job vacancy to those that are unemployed. Often the best candidate is already employed and we feel the same logic can be applied in the property category and that often the best house for an individual is not currently for sale.”
There are also plans for a View Insurance offering, via a deal with the Budget Direct brand, and a View Jobs real estate employment industry marketplace.
Mr Catalano and Domain have a history, with the business floating on the ASX with him in charge in November 2017, though he left the chief executive role in controversial circumstances a few months later.
He and billionaire investor Waislitz later bought the Rural Press assets from Nine for about $125m after its merger with Fairfax Media, forming Australian Community Media, which includesregional newspapers like The Canberra Times, Illawarra Mercury and the Newcastle Herald.
The pair have since sold some surplus ACM property and closed some titles, though Mr Catalano said they had also paid off all the associated debt with their purchase and made backthe equity they put in, via dividends and asset sales.
ACM’s parent company had a gross profit of $40m in the 2022 financial year from revenue of about $266m, boosted by the sale of its shares in Prime Media – acquired by Seven in late 2021.
Mr Catalano said ACM now had more than 130,00 digital subscribers, including 15,000 who have subscriptions to agricultural-focused publications.
“We think there is a big opportunity there, and have a focus on investing in an agri media and technology fund out of that business. We’ve enjoyed the ACM ride. It probably has surprised some people who thought it was a sunset industry. It turns out it can be a long sunset.”
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