Sky News Australia has announced audience growth of 21.5% over the last 24 months, with 11.1 million Australians now engaging with the brand each month.
The data comes from the new Sky News Australia Audience Study 2023, which unpacks consumers’ news consumption habits and preferences.
The 2023 report examines what news agenda items drive continued interest and how generations consume news differently, identifying cost of living as the most critical issue for Australians today across all generations.
The second iteration of the study comes two years after the inaugural report launched in 2021, which showed news interest and broadcast viewership skyrocketed significantly across the country during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Paul Whittaker, chief executive officer Sky News Australia, said: “It’s been two years since we last undertook this study, and in that time we have expanded our content reach onto more platforms including news streaming service Flash, Sky News Radio on the Nova Player, Sky News Now on Samsung TV Plus, and the relaunched Sky News Australia App – all playing a contributing role in amplifying our reach and diversifying our viewer audience profile.
Paul Whittaker
Sky News still Foxtel’s #1 non-sport
“Across broadcast platforms, Sky News remains the number one non-sport channel on Foxtel while our regional free-to-air channel Sky News Regional continues to grow year-on-year.
“The research has indicated that audiences are accessing our content on more platforms than ever before, with growth across new and existing digital platforms driving audience engagement. No doubt this has contributed to Sky News maintaining its position as the number one Australian news brand on social media.”
Audience study highlights
• Brand grows its monthly unique audience to 11.1 million Australians (up +21.5% from 9.1 million in the Australia Audience Study 2021), reaching 42% of the national population every month.
• The average Sky News viewer across all content offerings is aged 45 years old, as consumption on digital increases. YouTube +34.9% (4.4m), Facebook +28.5% (4.1m) and SkyNews.com.au +23% (2.9m) visitors are all up when compared to the previous study.
• Australians are accessing more news sources than ever before. On average viewers access 6.4 unique news sources compared to 3.4 for non-Sky News viewers, with the average number of news sources all Australians access increasing from 3.7 in 2021 to 4.3 this year. The average Australian is accessing Sky News on 2.2 platforms per month.
Viewers other news sources include The Guardian, SBS and ABC
• Viewers value Sky News’ political and business coverage as well as a wide range of opinions, with 74% believing the brand covers issues relevant to their community and 73% agreeing the channel has the news live as it’s breaking.
• All generations – Baby Boomers (84%), Gen X (80%), Gen Z (79%), Millennials (78%) – see cost of living as the issue of most importance to them. Issues around health and the hospital system are ranked second for all – Baby Boomers (78%), Gen X (70%), and Millennials (63%) – except Gen Z which prioritises the housing shortage (70%).
• The economic climate hasn’t impacted the propensity to purchase with more people planning to buy across all key categories than in 2021. Viewers are significantly over-indexing for purchase consideration across all categories including streaming media and/or entertainment services, travel services and household goods – all seeing 42% considering making a purchase in the next six months.
Sky News Australia commercial director Cathryn Adams said: “This year’s study has helped us understand more about the motivations of Australians in consuming their news as well as resonance of advertising and the propensity to purchase – which is increasing.
Cathryn Adams
“We can also better quantify the benefit of integrated sponsorship investment, for our partners, across our growing multi-platform content offering, now reaching up to 11 million Australians.”
Hoop Research group director Liz Farquharson said: “The results validate the multiple platform approach and the strength of its digital platforms to not only rapidly grow audiences but also to secure a younger, more diverse consumer.
“Overall, we see a significant lift in the interest and consumption of news services over the last two years. The impact of this increased engagement on the audience can be quantified by a +35% lift with respondents agreeing that Sky News covers relevant content for the community, and a huge +37% lift in support for Sky News sponsors.”
*Sky News Australia commissioned Hoop Research Group to conduct an independent Audience Study, replicating the study of 2021, to track key shifts in audience profiles, behaviours and attitudes. The national survey consisted of n=2034 Australians aged 18-75. Age, gender and region quotas were applied to the sample and all final data was weighted to reflect the latest ABS population estimates as well as presence of Foxtel. The findings in this document are the result of a survey conducted by Hoop Group in May/June 2023 where the survey was used to fill gaps in actual currency data for the same period and provide the basis for deduplication calculations. Final reach figures are validated by Audience Research. Contents of this report may be reproduced provided appropriate credit is given to the source: Australia Audience Study, Hoop Group 2023.
About Sky News
The channels operated and distributed by Australian News Channel include Sky News, Sky News Weather, Sky News The Voice Debate, Sky News UK, Fox Sports News and Australia Channel for international audiences. Australian News Channel is owned by News Corp Australia, a subsidiary of News Corp.
See also: Sky News Australia reveals its digital growth in 2022