Zillow adds video walkthroughs for rental listings

Zillow has just added video walkthroughs on rental listings, providing renters with a new and more immersive way to envision themselves in a home. Video walkthroughs are short videos that will give renters more information about a home's key features and special attributes than photos alone can provide.

Video walkthroughs are designed to fit into the browsing behavior of renters, who are increasingly searching for homes on their smartphone. Two-thirds of Zillow's traffic comes from a mobile device; on weekends it's more than 70 percent. With a time limit of two minutes and no sound, video walkthroughs give renters a new way to explore the real estate market and narrow down the homes they want to tour. The format is the same for every listing, giving renters a consistent viewing experience and allowing them to more easily compare homes.

"Video walkthroughs have been tremendously popular on for-sale listings, bringing them to rentals is a natural extension," said Jeremy Wacksman, Zillow chief marketing officer, in a statement. "Video walkthroughs give renters a quick glimpse into home features that are hard to capture in photos, like how a home is laid out or how much natural light there is in the kitchen. For landlords and property managers who manage their listings through Zillow Rental Manager, this is an easy way to make your listing come to life."

Landlords and property managers record and publish video walkthroughs to their listings, for free, via the Zillow Rental Manager App. Zillow built into the app the ability to record footage in short segments, versus one continuous video, so that agents can show different views and shots of the home easily.