April’s Ipsos iris numbers show that a series of major breaking news events drove news traffic, resulting in more than 20.7 million people using a news website or app during the month – reaching 96.6% of online Australians aged 14+.
The Westfield Bondi Junction attacks and Western Sydney church stabbings saw Sydney-based news outlets The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph record online audience increases of around one million. These are the highest-ever audiences for the two brands since Ipsos iris launched in 2023.
See Also: Westfield Bondi knife attack sees news figures spike as TV networks broadcast rolling coverage
Other major news events driving news in April include the Bruce Lehrmann defamation verdict, Sunrise reporter Nathan Templeton being found dead, the Iran drone attack on Israel, and King Charles’ and Kate Middleton’s cancer updates.
Speaking to Mediaweek earlier this month, Seven’s newly-appointed news boss Anthony de Ceglie predicted that the Ipsos iris ratings for the network’s digital newspaper The Nightly would “shoot the lights out”.
The title did not reach the top 20 in April, recording an audience of 1.808 million, however this is an increase of almost one million readers over the last month.
The Nightly’s editor Sarah-Jane Tasker said it was “refreshing” to see that the title is “Attracting younger people back to reading the news.”
“Our audience is 54% women. And almost two-thirds of our readers are young. That is quite a statement.”
For the 16th month in a row, News Corp’s news.com.au has topped the list of digital news brands, this month recording an audience of 12.397 million, with an average time spent on the site of 27 minutes per person.
News.com.au Editor Kerry Warren pointed to the Westfield Bondi Junction tragedy on Saturday, 13 April, as one of the biggest reasons readers came to the site.
“In one of their darkest times, Australians turned to us for updates as they struggled to understand the horror that was unfolding. We saw a spike in readers coming directly to our homepage, as our reporters and editors worked around the clock to ensure every angle was covered and Australians were informed,” Warren said.
Gaming on the rise
Gaming on websites and apps was popular during April, with audiences rising by 2.7% on the month prior, which equates to almost 16.6 million Australians aged 14+.
The results are driven by men aged 14 to 24, with their usage of gaming sites and apps up +10.2% compared to March.
The other two groups with significant increases in games app and website usage in April were men aged 65+, rising by +9.1%, and women aged 40-54, up +7.3%.
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Top Image: Flowers laid at Bondi Junction Westfield