Politicians behaving badly, to the cost of living silver lining of tax cuts, plus wars and storms, piqued Australians’ interest in online news – Ipsos iris data
Itchy feet sees Australians spending more time online with careers websites and apps in February
22 March 2024 – As the cost of living crisis lingers, it was politics, tax cuts, wars and storms that drove consumption of Australia’s news websites and apps in February, according to today’s Ipsos iris data.
More than 20.6 million people used a news website or app in February, reaching 96.3% of online Australians aged 14+.
Key political news events, such as Barnaby Joyce’s fitness to remain in politics after his ‘fall’ from grace, the stage three tax cuts redesign, the prospect of interest rate cuts, and former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s final day in politics, drove that consumption. Other news stories such as the ongoing wars in Gaza and the Ukraine, the Victorian storms, the murders of Luke Davies and Jessie Baird and missing mother Samantha Murphy, the Grammy Awards and NFL Superbowl, also received strong interest.
The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during February 2024 by online audience size.
Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed the most consumed website and app categories in February were search engines (21.3 million), social networking (21.3 million), technology (21.3 million), retail and commerce (21 million) and entertainment (20.9 million).
Among category insights, more than 13.8 million people aged 14+ used a career website or app in February. While this was on par with January, the time spent on careers sites and apps increased significantly compared to January, up +14.9% per person.
People aged 25-39 are driving the increase, spending 1.3 hours per month on career websites and apps.
The chart below shows the Career brands’ ranking during February 2024 by online audience size.
Ipsos iris, which officially launched in March 2023, 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.
- In February 2024 month CTV audience currency integration from a data partnership with OzTAM launched providing 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/
*Source: IAB Australia Online Advertising Expenditure Report (OAER FY23) prepared by PwC Australia.