When too much sport is never enough: festival of the boot sees fans flock to sports websites and apps – Ipsos iris data

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When too much sport is never enough: festival of the boot sees fans flock to sports websites and apps – Ipsos iris data 

Footy and other trending news events see Australians spend almost five hours each month consuming news content

 

23 October 2025 – More than six in 10 Australians, or 14.06 million people aged 14+, visited a sports website or app in September as cliff hanger AFL, NRL and NRLW finals gripped a nation of sports fanatics, according to new Ipsos iris data released today.

Australian sports fans spent 54 minutes in September consuming sports content online. While both men and women enjoy reading about sport online, men spend more than five times the amount of time than women, at 89 minutes versus 17 minutes respectively.

The over 40s spent 2.4 times more time consuming sports content online than those under 40, while the over 40s are also significantly more likely to consume sports content online at 72% versus 52% of those aged under 40.

The chart below shows the Sports brands’ ranking during September 2025 by online audience size.

 

Online news content consumption rises +2.8% in September

The number of people using a news website or app in September rose by +2.8% year on year to 21.3 million, reaching 96.4% of online Australians aged 14+.

We spent 4.56 hours last month consuming news content online, which is on par with the corresponding period last year.

News websites and apps consumption was driven by major sports news events, such as the AFL Brownlow Medal, the Brisbane vs. Geelong Grand Final and off-season trades. There was intense interest in Brownlow red carpet fashion and the live vote, and lead up to the NRL Grand Final.

In addition, the shock split between Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban after 19 years of marriage, the ongoing manhunt for cop killer Dezi Freeman, the fatal shark attack at Sydney’s Long Reef Beach and the sentencing of Erin Patterson for the “mushroom murders” drove interest in news online, plus contestant dramas in reality shows.

Global news events including the assassination of US political activist Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump’s State Visit to the UK and the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and the Ukraine also garnered online news consumption.

The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during September 2025 by online audience size.

Career, Games, Health and Homes categories drive audience increases in September

Categories with the highest year-on-year growth in September were Career (up +7.6%), Games (up +5.1%), Health (up +4.4%) and Homes and Property (up +4.3%).

Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that a total of 22.127 million Australians aged 14+ used the internet in September and spent 4.87 hours per day on average online, which was up 4.9% compared to the same time last year.

The most consumed website and app categories in September were Social Networking (22.07 million), Search Engines (both 22.06 million), Technology (22.03 million), Retail and Commerce (21.9 million) and Entertainment (21.8 million).

Ipsos iris provides accurate data about the 22.127 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/