Domain Group has retaliated against a research report that showed it falling further behind REA group.
Roy Morgan Research released a report yesterday that claimed REA Group’s audience rose during the second half of 2014 while Domain’s fell.
However, Domain has accused Roy Morgan of basing the report on “flawed and outdated” methodology.
Domain said it tracks its audience numbers using “industry-recognised web analytic tools”, and that this data shows the listings giant grew during the second half of 2014.
Mobile app user numbers increased 17 per cent, while the unique audience for the desktop and mobile sites increased 9 per cent, Domain said.
Domain’s half-yearly results also reported a 19.4 per cent increase in total traffic numbers and a 40.5 per cent jump in mobile and app traffic.
That prompted Domain to accuse Roy Morgan of “using a quill-and-inkwell approach in the digital age”.
“Domain Group, like its peers in the digital media industry, publishes usage data using web analytic tools such as Nielsen and Google – not recall-based telephone surveys which are a flawed and outdated methodology,” Domain said.
Domain also criticised Roy Morgan for not disclosing its commercial relationship with Roy Morgan in the report, which it said “raises questions about its conclusions”.
Roy Morgan’s general manager of media, Tim Martin, told Residential Property Manager earlier this week that the survey results had not been influenced by the commercial relationship.
“REA are a client of ours, but were in no way consulted and this was never discussed. This is an independent, separate report that we’ve put into the market,” Mr Martin said.