COMMUNITY media group Archant – which publishes the Times – has announced plans to support a major new property portal, OnTheMarket.com, which has gone live this week.

More than 4,000 estate and letting agent offices are supporting the venture, the consumer portal brand of Agents’ Mutual, an agent-owned business designed to offer more choice into the property portals market beyond players such as Rightmove.com, Zoopla, and Primelocation.

Archant is one of the largest publishers of regional newspapers and lifestyle magazines in the country with more than 50 newspaper titles and associated digital media, including its own property portal homes24.co.uk powered by Zoopla, which it will continue to partner with to provide its own property search facilities, accessible via all its newspaper websites. However, the business said it would back the new portal with advertising space across all Archant newspapers and magazines to promote the OnTheMarket.com brand in the lead-up to its launch and beyond.

Johnny Hustler, Archant executive director, said: “Estate and letting agents hold the key to some of the most valuable content in the form of the details of the properties they are marketing for their clients. We’ve seen more and more of our agent advertisers signing up to OnTheMarket.com and we envisage it growing rapidly in the market.

“We see a major opportunity for our consumers, for our business, for our agent advertisers and for OnTheMarket.com by supporting the venture in a practical way.

“There’s clearly a win-win opportunity if we work smartly together to harness the content in a way that is appealing to consumers, value-adding to our advertisers and profitable and brand-enhancing.”