Broker Public Portal expands Cribio as data control debate grows

Cribio is designed to compete with advertising- and lead-generation-based listing portals while maintaining control of listing data and leads with brokers and agents. Brokers and MLSs must pay to have listings on Cribio, unlike free portals that monetize through advertising, lead sales, success fees, and related conversions. Some brokers initially react with hesitation because the payment model differs from what they expected when agents were originally promoted with listings. Cribio positions itself as offering a portal without compromising on the back end, including no advertising, no lead selling, and no selling to agents or mortgage conversions. The platform supports nearly 400,000 agents and plans to launch in at least three new markets soon. Growth depends on unit holders wanting to purchase the product, and Cribio is built around MLS data and shared infrastructure to enable consumer search across markets.

"The goal of the BPP is to create a platform that competes with advertising and lead generation-powered listing portals like Zillow or Realtor.com, but keeps control over listing data and the leads listings generated in the hands of brokers and agents. This, however, means that brokers and MLSs have to pay to have their listings on Cribio. The portals are free because they have other monetization strategies, such as advertising, selling leads and success fees and the unfortunate part is, I don't think this is the model most people thought they were initially buying into because originally it was the listing agent that was promoted with the listings."

"But because of the way this works, when you ask an MLS or a broker to pay for a portal they look at you strangely, Dan Troup, the CEO of BPP, said. But in this instance we are asking them to pay for a portal, but they don't have to compromise anything on the back side no advertising, no leads, no selling to agents or mortgage conversions."

"Despite the initial hesitancy of some brokers, Troup said BPP currently supports nearly 400,000 agents on the platform, with plans to launch in at least three new markets within the next quarter. We are continuing to grow from an ownership standpoint, with more brokers and MLSs becoming unit holders, but the only way we can continue on and make the company sustainable is to create a product in which our unit holders want to purchase, Troup said."

"This, Troup said, was the impetus behind the launch of Cribio last fall and with brokers beginning to push for greater control over how their listing data is used by third parties, more and more are becoming interested in the Cribio platform. We are really leaning into the MLS because it is where the data lives and it is the place the agent works out of, but you can't tap into it as a consumer you need some type of shared infrastructure, Troup said. But if you go to One Key MLS, for example, you can search the same markets that are on Cribio"

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