Metroland Media Group has introduced a mobile classified app, Tradyo, in an attempt to recoup some of the lost revenue from its buy-and-sell classifieds business.
Acquired by Metroland last year, Tradyo offers an in-app chat function, eliminating the need for sellers to provide personal contact information like email addresses or phone numbers. It also allows users to set alerts by category within a selected “Tradius” (trading radius), with users receiving a notification whenever there is a match.
Terry Kukle, Metroland’s vice-president of business development and acquisitions, said the iOS and Android product is designed to appeal to millennial audiences and “alpha moms,” groups he characterized as “power mobile users.”
Kukle said Metroland has succeeded in repatriating some lost classified revenue, particularly in verticals like automotive and home rentals, through what he described as “fairly successful” standalone web properties such as the renter’s site GottaRent.com and job sight LocalWork.ca.
However, he said efforts to transition the buy-and-sell category to digital have proven more difficult, as rival services like Craigslist and Kijiji have quickly established themselves in the space.
The company’s strategy with Tradyo is to capitalize on its strong community presence. Metroland claims it reaches more than 7 million local consumers online each month, while its 112 newspapers reach 4 million households.
Kukle said the online classified space is big enough to support a new player like Tradyo, particularly given the app’s focus on the millennial audience. “There are only two players of any significance in our footprint, so we don’t have to try and destroy them,” he said. “If we can get a small piece of the market, which is significant, and going after a niche audience with a niche product, we are confident we can turn it into a profitable, viable business.”
While Kukle is optimistic about Tradyo’s prospects, he said it’s unrealistic to expect to recoup all of the company’s lost classified revenue. “I don’t think anybody can, dollar for dollar, come close to clawing back print revenue [with digital],” he said. “I think we all understand [the concept of] print dollars to digital dimes.”
He said Metroland’s web properties have been successful in maintaining the company’s market share, with sites likes LocalWork.ca one of the “dominant” products in local job market classifieds. “It still is very sustainable and fruitful in those areas,” he said.
Tradyo is currently in “user acquisition mode,” and will be tracking metrics such as user-engagement, number of ads posted and in-app conversations. While the product has only been in-market for about two weeks, Kukle said preliminary metrics are “in-line” with the company’s projections.
Metroland is also approaching local advertisers with in-app opportunities including display and native ads.
Future marketing will include additional flyer drops, on-campus advertising, street marketing and a series of pre-roll video ads. The company will also attempt to reach potential customers through its couponing/flyer site Save.ca, which reaches approximately 1.5 million people.
Newspapers Canada does not track classified ad revenue, but a recent report from the AIM Group pegged its global value at US$92 billion, with digital accounting for 77% of that total. The report identified mobile growth, the use of Big Data, growing niche services and the use of instant messaging by classified sites as key revenue drivers.
