Sky News has released the findings of its 2021 Sky News Australia Audience Study which asked consumers about their news preferences and habits. A headline finding is that research revealed more than 9.1m Australians engage with Sky News each month.
Sky News Australia commercial director Cathryn Adams told Mediaweek: “It has been 13 years since we have done a study of this kind, and we have never done a piece of research this big. We interviewed more than 7,000 people and conducted some focus groups as well.”
Cathryn Adams
What the research has done is not only reveal the total size of the Sky News Australia audience, but also perhaps squashing some of the myths about the brand along the way.
While Foxtel Media represents the TV channel for ad sales and News Corp now handles digital sales opportunities, Adams looks after the rest. That includes brands wanting a presence across all platforms and any Sky News Australia commercial content production like Business Weekend or The Alliance.
During 2020 the lockdowns across Australia the Sky News Australia audience climbed, so much that it ended the year #1 individual channel on the Foxtel platform. Because of that advertising revenues also improved.
The 2021 lockdowns have also seen the audience numbers spike and with advertisers following audience, so too have the revenues. “We are still the #1 non-sports channel on the Foxtel platform so far in 2021,” said Adams.
As to the idea that Sky News attracts a very different conservative viewer at night to those who watch across the day, Adams said: “The research indicates it is the same audience, there is just more of them in the evening. There are a number of misconceptions about the audience. The fact is that one-third of Australians are watching Sky News on average across two platforms every month.
“We have a very broad cross-section of the community with the average age of the viewer being 46.”
Adams said there are advertisers wanting to target different dayparts and programs across the seven days. “When Alan Jones moved to Sky News some people were wondering if advertisers would follow. They certainly have and he attracts a lot of sponsors, as Paul Murray continues to do too.
“There are plenty of advertisers who want to get into that 6pm to 11pm timeslot. Other programs that do well include Ross Greenwood’s Business Weekend. We have had to put a cap on how many do get involved as we were concerned it might seem like too much clutter.
“First Edition too attracts clients who want to be around news in the morning when people are getting up.”
The size of the Sky News audience grows across the day with 26% watching the content first on the Foxtel channel or the regional FTA partnerships with WIN and Southern Cross.
“We then amplify that content across other platforms including the redesigned Sky News website or posts on YouTube, Facebook or LinkedIn. We also post the full episodes of some programming. All audio content goes out on the iHeartRadio channel and some programs have a podcast as well.”
Paul Whittaker
With the release of the research chief executive of Sky News Australia Paul Whittaker said: “As Sky News Australia marks its 25th year, the audience study provided an opportunity to delve into the Australian news market and really get to know our audience, to understand how they access our news platforms and what’s really important to them when searching for reliable, accurate and balanced news sources.”
The key Sky News Australia research findings include:
• Sky News reaches one-third of all Australians every month. Sky News reaches a monthly unique audience of 9.1 million Australians.
• More than one quarter (26 per cent) of all people engaging with Sky News are doing so via the Foxtel platform.
• The average Sky News viewer age is 46 years old across all its platforms, which is driven by younger audiences accessing digital platforms more frequently than older viewers.
• Sky News main viewers are significantly over-indexing for purchase consideration across all categories including financial services, banking, automotive and household goods.
• Sky News main viewers are a more responsive audience for advertisers; of Sky News viewers 51 per cent actively support program sponsors, and 36 per cent state they take more notice of advertising while watching Sky News.
Whittaker added: “This research shows Australians are accessing their news from a wide variety of sources across a wide variety of media and the use of digital platforms is growing as generations consume news differently. Sky News is meeting the need for each generation across all platforms and it’s evident that investment in our digital strategy and our exclusive news, commentary and analysis content is resonating with more Australians than ever before.”