More than 21 million people used a news website or app in August, representing 96% of online Australians – Ipsos iris data
Australians now spending nearly five hours each day consuming news content
22 September 2025 – More than 21 million Australians used a news website or app in August, with content reaching 96% of people online nationwide, new Ipsos iris data has revealed.
In a slight increase on July’s figures, 21.3 million Australians aged 14+ used a news website or app in August, spending around 4.78 hours daily consuming news content.
True crime, the Logies red carpet and Trump drives news websites and apps usage
Popular Australian news stories that drove online news viewing, included the ongoing manhunt for Victorian man Dezi Freeman, who allegedly shot two police officers, the Mount Waverley murders where a pregnant woman and her partner were killed, Australia’s expulsion of the Iranian ambassador after he allegedly directed antisemitic attacks, the 2025 Logies and the AFL Black Monday coverage.
In global news, the summit meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska garnered significant interest, along with updates on the war in Ukraine, an urgent broccoli recall in Italy after one person died and nine were hospitalised, and coverage of a man snatching Polish tennis star Kamil Majchrzaks match-worn hat from a young fan.
The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during August 2025 by online audience size.
The convenience economy: More than 15 million Australians used food and delivery websites or apps in August
Last month, more than 15 million Australians (69%) aged over 14 used a food and delivery website or app, spending around 42 minutes per month researching and placing orders with some of the world’s biggest food and delivery brands.
The data reveals food and delivery apps were most popular with women and Gen Z – women were 6% more likely to visit food and delivery websites than men, particularly women aged between 14-24, who were 17% more likely to use food and delivery apps than men of the same age group.
Men and women over 40 were the least likely to access online food and delivery information.
The chart below shows the Fast Food and Delivery brands’ ranking during August 2025 by online audience size.
Career, home and property, and travel online audiences rise in August
Categories with the highest month-on-month growth in August compared to July were career, and home and property (both +5.4%) and travel (+2.3%), with most other categories remaining stable or showing a modest decline, compared to the peak audiences recorded in July.
Categories with the largest year-on-year increases in online audiences were energy suppliers/utilities (+7.6%), automotive and career (both +7.5%) and events and attractions (+5.2%).
Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that 22.127 million Australians aged 14+ used the internet in August, spending an average of 4.78 hours per day online.
The most consumed website and app categories in August were social networking and search engines (both 22.05 million), online media (22.01 million), technology (21.9 million) and retail and commerce (both 21.8 million).
Ipsos iris, which officially launched in March 2023, provides accurate data about the 21.3 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 $16.4 billion Australian online advertising market (Source; IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report prepared by PWC CY24)
- 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.
- In February 2024, the CTV audience currency integration from a data partnership with OzTAM launched, providing total unduplicated digital audience currency data for BVOD across CTV, smartphones, tablets, and computers.
- In August 2024, enriched YouTube audience reach and watch time data for Connected TV across mobile, desktop and tablets was integrated into Ipsos iris, in collaboration with Google and IAB Australia.
- Ipsos iris is fully privacy compliant and cross-media ready and will continue to evolve with a roadmap of enhancements over 2024 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/