More than 20 million Australians used a news website or app in June as Australians can’t shake it off with Taylor Swift ticket frenzy compelling online audiences – Ipsos iris data

20.7 million Australians used a retail website or app in June, with a close eye on discretionary spending

24 July 2023 – Major news continues to drive strong interest among Australians, with news events such as the Taylor Swift concert ticket frenzy, the missing Titanic submersible, sporting clashes including the State of Origin and the Ashes, and the tragic Hunter Valley wedding party bus crash, seeing 20.1 million people use news websites and apps during June, according to Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by the IAB Australia.

People spend an average of five hours a month consuming news content in June.

The News category includes audience and time spent online on both general news and broader news content including weather, sport, lifestyle, entertainment, and business news.

The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during June 2023 by online audience size.

In addition, more than 20.7 million used a retail website or app in June, which was steady, with cost of living pressures seeing Australians curb some discretionary spending.

The top five retail sub-categories with increases in online audiences in June compared to May were: computer hardware (+14.5%) with end of financial year sales, cinema (+10.8%) as major film releases No Hard Feelings, Transformers, and Indiana Jones launched, games & toys (+8%), ticketing (+8%) driven by Taylor Swift ticket sales, and pets (+6.8%).

Retail categories that saw audience declines during June were in the discretionary category including flower shopping (-37.4%), photos (-5.5%) and automotive – parts and accessories (-4.3%).

Among the top retail brand groups, online marketplace Temu is the fastest growing, rising +14.2% to more than 9.2 million Australians using its website or app in June. Temu, which only launched in Australia in April, is now the eighth largest online retail brand in terms of audience in Australia.

Flybuys and Coles also saw online audience increases, up +9.1% and +6.4% respectively.

The chart below shows the retail brands’ ranking during June 2023 by online audience size.

Australians aged 14+ spent 3.7 hours per day, or 111 hours per month, online in June, a decline of 4.6% compared to May.

Sports and games categories saw some of the greatest audience increases for the month, up 4.1% and 2.6% respectively.

People aged 25-39 were the largest cohort online during June, while people aged 40 to 54 spent the most time online.

The most consumed online categories by total audience size in June included search (20.9 million), social networking (20.9 million), technology (20.8 million), retail and commerce (20.7 million), and entertainment (20.5 million).

Ipsos iris, which officially launched in March, provides accurate data about the 21 million Australians aged 14+ who access a wide variety of digital content and services across smartphone, PC/laptop and tablet devices.

Notes for editors:

Ipsos iris is an independent source of truth for the media industry providing a level playing field for comparison of audience reach and characteristics and supporting the $14.2 billion Australian online advertising market*.
Ipsos iris provides accuracy in solving cross-device deduplication, the biggest challenge in measuring online audiences, using a single-source multi-device panel measuring activity on 8,000 smartphone, PC, laptop and tablet devices
Ipsos iris provides accurate data about the number of people who visit the content of digital publishers and platforms, along with the frequency of visits and time spent by tracking digital audience behaviour across desktop/laptop, smartphone, and tablets. It uses a hybrid methodology that combines metered data from a high quality, nationally representative, single-source passive panel with site-centric census measurement via media owner tagging.
Later this year CTV audience currency integration from a data partnership with OzTAM will provide total unduplicated digital audience currency data for CTV, smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Ipsos iris is fully privacy compliant and cross-media ready and will continue to evolve with a roadmap of enhancements over 2023 and beyond. It will also be adaptable to changing requirements as the industry develops in future years.
The launch of Ipsos iris with monthly data from January 2023 was the culmination of extensive work by the IAB and its Measurement Council that commenced in early 2021 with a strategic review of industry requirements. Ipsos was awarded the IAB’s endorsement, having best met the standards on criteria across all areas of product along with criteria for operations and a future roadmap.
Further information can be found at: https://iris-au.ipsos.com/