Winter Olympics and Australian Open tennis final drive sports viewing nationwide in February – Ipsos iris data

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Winter Olympics and Australian Open tennis final drive sports viewing nationwide in February – Ipsos iris data

More than 21 million people used a news website or app in February

 

23 March 2026 – The Sports category audience increased by 4.9% month on month, driven by major events like the 2026 Winter Olympics, The Australian Open men’s tennis final, The Superbowl and the AFL State of Origin series in Perth all contributed to the increase in sports consumption in February, according to Ipsos iris data released today.

Across the month, 13.3 million Australians, or 59% of the online population aged 14+, visited a sports website or app, with major national and international sporting events garnering attention.

Overall, Australians spent around 32 minutes consuming sports content online in February, with men spending 49 minutes, compared to 13 minutes for women. Men also made up slightly more of the audience composition (52.2%), compared to women (47.8%).

The chart below shows the sports brands’ ranking during February 2026 by online audience size.

 

Married At First Sight, hero teen and British royals drive online news content in February

Ipsos iris data shows 21.1 million people used a news website or app in February, reaching 93.6% of online Australians aged 14+ compared to 96.5% at the same time last year. Australians spent an average of 3.13 hours per month consuming news in February, compared to 4.43 hours per month for the same time last year.

Australians turned to news websites and apps for updates on several major local and international news events. Nationally, the search for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont drove strong engagement, with intense public interest around police updates on the South Australian case. A proposal to give NSW residents an extra day off for ANZAC Day also generated significant interest, along with the story of a 13-year-old boy’s heroic rescue of his family in Western Australia, the kidnapping of Sydney grandfather Chris Baghsarian and coverage of Tropical Cyclone Mitchell. Entertainment news around Married At First Sight and comedian Celeste Barber’s separation from her husband also received widespread coverage.

Globally, stories related to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict as the bombardment of Iran commenced, Jeffrey Epstein and the aftermath of the release of the Epstein files and the arrest of British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor also drew substantial attention.

The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during February 2026 by online audience size.

Homes and Property category continues audience growth in February

The homes and property category again topped year-on-year growth in February, holding its top growth spot from January and jumping by 9.3%. This was followed by energy suppliers and utilities (+ 7.3%), events and attractions (+5.3%), automotive (+2.5%) and entertainment (+2.1%).

Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that a total of 22.6 million Australians aged 14+ used the internet in February and spent an average of 4.9 hours daily online, up 5.3% compared to the same time last year.

The most consumed categories in February were social networking (22.47 million), search engines (22.45 million), online media (22.44 million), technology (22.34 million), and entertainment (22.19 million).

Ipsos iris provides accurate data about the 22.6 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 $18.4 billion Australian online advertising market (Source; IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report prepared by PWC CY25)
  • 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/