Seek questions Trade Me's 'overtake' claim

Last week we reported that Trade Me said it expects its Jobs board to overtake Seek by the end of the year.

“We're currently about 1% behind Seek and expect to pass them on this metric before the year is out,” the company said in an update.

That claim has since been met with puzzled looks at Seek HQ, according to General Manager Annemarie Duff, who says the whole claim appears to be based on a 1% visitor lag behind Seek.

“Nielsen Market Intelligence Research unique browser results are showing an 8% lead for Seek this month and similarly an 11% lead for August,” Duff explained.

The General Manager added that there are a number of areas in which Seek measures its “number one” position in the market.

“Unique browsers for us are more than just numbers, they are an engaged and focused audience; when a site delivers one thing - jobs, then you know why people are on it. At Seek we consistently lead UBs, but that rates as one area that counts towards our leadership position, there are at least five others.”

According to Duff Seek had 210,000 more site visits than any other site in September. “We have more jobs than anywhere else –around 60% more - proof that more advertisers choose Seek than any other job site,” she says.

“Seek has the largest amount of jobseeker activity of any site in New Zealand,” continued Duff. “This means we have access to, and can provide the most in-depth and comprehensive tracking of jobseeker behaviour in New Zealand.”