Have you met with a Realtor® to discuss marketing strategies? If you have, chances are they spoke with you about putting your home listing on third-party websites, like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc. They may have even used the specific term “syndicate”. But what exactly does this mean?
In television, syndicating is when a channel purchases the right to broadcast a specific show with the ownership of the show staying with the original company. For example, a CBS show may be syndicated to a local affiliate or to an off-network where it may play as reruns. This is how a large portion of broadcasting is structured, so much so that you may not even view your local affiliate channel as 
separate from the main broadcasting company.
In real estate, the basic concept is the same, except real estate agents and brokerages, who choose to do this, usually pay to have their listings put on third-party websites as an additional outlet for marketing. That would be like if CBS paid every affiliate to broadcast their show. The brokerage remains the “owner” of the listing maintaining the core info and determining where it shall appear.
When television shows are syndicated, they may be edited. The typical sitcom is 22 minutes, but, on another station, it may be cut down to 20 minutes to make room for extra commercials. In a way, this happens with listings, as well. Through different outlets, usually the multiple listing service, brokerages provide a data feed to these third-party websites. The third-party companies take the information about the listings included in this data feed and translates it for the layout they use on their website. As a side-effect, not all information provided in the data feed may be shown and it may be merged with other data (on-page advertisements, database records, etc.).
Some brokerages and Realtor® associations have chosen to stop syndicating. One reason is that they don’t feel they have as much control over the data as they should. Zillow, which merges data feeds with public records, is often attacked due to inaccuracies that seem out of the control of individual agents. However, the syndication debate is a deep one that goes well beyond these few details.
But what does it mean to YOU, the homeowner? Like a syndicated television show, the more places it’s shown, the more viewers it gains. This is exactly why so many brokerages continue to syndicate. The more eyes on a property, the better chance of garnering a sale.
