For several years now, Zillow has had a robust system for realtors, videographers, and photographers to upload real estate video tours. By uploading these videos directly to Zillow, those listings had a premium placement with the videos directly in their own spot on that website. This helped set realtors apart from their competition by utilizing this amazing free service. However, by the end of 2022 this service is being discontinued.

Zillow recently announced that their upload service is planned for retirement at the end of 2022 and people who work in the real estate industry, particularly videographers, are wondering why. Well, they address this in their FAQ.

”Zillow Video Upload is being retired in order to prioritize Zillow 3D Home, a virtual tour and interactive floor plan solution that lets buyers and renters virtually explore a home at their own speed. Zillow is investing in bringing 3D Home to more people and more listings. The 3D Home capture app is a free tool that real estate agents and photographers can use to create virtual tours and interactive floor plans for their listings.”

Zillow has made it no secret that they want to prioritize their 3D Home service. Based on research conducted over a few months in 2022, listings with a Zillow 3D Home tour were viewed 68% more than listings without a Zillow 3D Home tour.

Zillow 3D tours are incredible. They are easy to create and provide a near “in-person” experience to someone interested in a property. Now with every 3D tour, Zillow creates an interactive floor plan! These interactive floor plans allow the viewer to see where exactly they are in a property and which direction they’re facing. Additionally, the blue dots can be clicked on and they viewer will instantly travel to that area.

An example of the interactive floor plan when viewing a Zillow 3D Home tour on a computer.

A 3D tour is not a replacement for a professional real estate video. It’s a compliment to it. They are purely informational. A Zillow 3D tour is the same from agent to agent so there is nothing unique about the tours. 3D tours are also not branding pieces that you can use in your marketing unlike videos. Where videos can showcase aerial views, local attractions and create a “feeling”, Zillow 3D tours do not.

Since Zillow is dropping their built-in video service, how will that affect realtors and videographers? In truth, very minimally. The videos will have to be added to MLS and then it will syndicate with Zillow and other real estate aggregating websites. The videos will then appear in the listing under the “Facts and Features” section of the listing detail page. Prior to 2023, listings that had videos uploaded directly into Zillow received increased exposure vs listings that did not. With that going away, listings with the Zillow 3D Home tours will be boosted solely.

Adam Price Photography recommends a Zillow 3D Home tour for most real estate listings and a Real Estate Video for premium properties in addition to a 3D Home tour. If you’re curious about either of these services, contact Adam today!