The King’s visit, US election, and reality TV finales see the nation flock to online news – Ipsos iris data
A swag of music events and conferences sees surge in online audiences
22 November 2024 – Major news events and entertainment news continue to attract online audiences to news websites and apps, with King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Australian visit, the US election reaching its climax, and finales of reality TV shows fuelling that interest in October, according to the latest Ipsos iris data.
Local Queensland Election results as well as global news events including the US election and Hurricane Milton making landfall in Florida garnered interest. Finales of TV shows The Block, MKR and The Voice Australia saw spikes in online news audiences, along with the tragic death of former One Direction star Liam Payne.
More than 20.6 million people used a news website or app in October, reaching 96.2% of online Australians aged 14+.
The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during October 2024 by online audience size.
Music festival and events season see Events and Attractions category rise
Leading into the warmer months and live music festival season, there has been a 2% month on month increase in online audiences, or 292,000 Australians aged, 14+, in the Events and Attractions category, to reach a 13.9 million-strong audience in total. This represents an 11% year on year increase.
This increase was predominantly driven by the Music Events sub-category, which jumped by 30%, or 650,000 more visitors month on month, as Oasis, Laneway and Knotfest tickets all went on sale.
The increases were driven by people aged 14 to 24, with a huge 97% month on month, or 348,000, jump in online audiences. The 40 to 54 ‘Oasis generation’ swelled by 28%, or an additional 162,000 people, month on month in the category.
A range of conferences, including the high-profile SXSW Australia, saw the Business Expos and Conferences sub-category rise by 29%, or 57,000 people, month on month to reach an audience of 255,000.
The chart below shows the Events and Attractions brands’ ranking during October 2024 by online audience size.
Other industry categories record peak audience numbers and time spent online
Ipsos iris reported a number of increases in other categories, including a 11%, or 967,000, online audience rise in the Energy and Utilities category year on year.
The Homes & Property category, buoyed by the Spring selling season, rose by 8%, or 1 million year on year.
The Social Networking and Finance categories hit record audiences in October, at 21.4 million and 20.7 million respectively – and the highest since the launch of Ipsos iris in January 2023.
The Automotive category hit a peak for time spent online per person, up 8% to 21.21 minutes on average, while Health also peaked at 60.27 minutes on average, up by 20%, in October – and both the highest since Ipsos iris’s launch.
More than 21 million Australians used the internet in October
Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that more than 21.4 million Australians aged 14+ used the internet in October and spent on average 4.6 hours per day, or almost 141 hours for the month, online.
The most consumed website and app categories in September were social networking (21.4 million), search engines (21.3 million), technology (21.3 million), retail and commerce (21.1 million) and entertainment (21 million).
Ipsos iris, which officially launched in March 2023, provides accurate data about the 21.4 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 $15.6 billion Australian online advertising market (Source; IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report prepared by PWC FY24)
- 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/