More than 20.7 million people used a news website or app in May, reaching 96.7% of online Australians aged 14+, according to Ipsos iris data.
Readers sought online news content to understand the implications of the Federal and State Government Budgets on their lives, with the mid-air turbulence disaster on Singapore Airlines, the double murder of two Australian surfers in Mexico, and the appearance of Aurora Australis also driving news consumption.
Australians also turned to digital News websites and apps for entertainment stories such as the Met Gala in New York, Seven Network’s Farmer Wants A Wife, and Eurovision.
The top-read site, news.com.au garnered an audience of 12.696 million, reaching one in two online Australians with an average time spent on the site of 27 minutes per person.
News.com.au Editor Kerry Warren said the May result for the site was driven by cost-of-living concerns reaching crisis levels for many Australians.
“The Federal Budget captured readers’ interest, with the biggest audience driven to stories about measures to ease the cost of living, such as the $300 energy rebates.
“But alongside this was news of the collapse of several Australian businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector, and personal stories about the rental crisis, which is hitting young Aussies particularly hard.”
Warren said May was also a big month for international news, with the murder of the Aussie brothers in Mexico, and the helicopter crash that killed Iran’s president. Singapore Airlines’ fatal turbulence episode, and Donald Trump’s guilty verdict rounding out a big month.
The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during May 2024 by online audience size.
Ipsos iris showed that overall, 21.5 million Australians aged 14+ used the internet in May and spent on average 4.5 hours per day, or almost 137 hours for the month, online.
The most consumed website and app categories in February were search engines (21.4 million), social networking (21.3 million), technology (21.3 million), retail and commerce (21.1 million) and entertainment (21.1 million).
As the winter weather makes its presence known, the energy suppliers/utilities category grew its audience by +5.7%, perhaps as Australians searched for better deals.
Mother’s Day drives retail growth; Temu rises to 5th biggest online retail brand
Almost 21.1 million Australians aged 14+ used a retail or commerce website or app in May.
Most of the top 10 online retail brands have grown their audience year on year with the biggest growth coming from Chinese ecommerce shopping site Temu, increasing its audience by +39.7%, followed by Coles Group, which was up +18.8%. Just one year after its launch in Australia, Temu has more than 11 million Australians using its app or website and is the fourth largest online retail brand in the country, reflecting consumers’ desire to hunt down a bargain.
In the retail sub-categories, the largest growth was for flower shopping for Mother’s Day on 11 May, which jumped by +28.6% compared to April and by +21.2% compared to February 2024, which was the next biggest month for purchasing flowers online due to Valentine’s Day.
Restaurants and pubs websites and apps also saw their biggest audiences for 2024 in May, to more than 5.9 million people, up 5.8% on April, according to Ipsos iris data.
The chart below shows the Retail and Commerce brands’ ranking during May 2024 by online audience size.
