80% Of Adult Australians Turn To Digital News Sites And Apps To Stay Informed

• Total Time Spent recorded its peak on May 27, 2021, reaching 1.6 million hours¹ when the Victorian government announced a seven-day lockdown,  the second highest was recorded on June 27, 2021, reaching 1.5 million hours² as NSW went into the first day into lockdown
• In 2021, on average 80%³ of adult Australians turned to digital news sites and apps to stay informed and updated every month. 
• Consumers spent 12%⁴ more time in June 2021 engaging with News on their mobile devices when compared to the same period last year.

Sydney, 30 June 2021: The extraordinary growth in digital news consumption in 2020 has been sustained during the beginning of 2021 with 80%³ of adult Australians turning to digital news sites and apps to stay informed and updated every month. 

Digital Media Ratings volumetrics data, released by Nielsen, highlights some of these evolving digital consumer behaviors as our country registers spikes in COVID cases and restrictions come in place again to reduce the spread of the virus. Total time spent registered its peak on May 27, 2021 reaching 1.6 million hours¹, while the second-highest was recorded on June 27, 2021, reaching 1.5 million hours² as NSW went into lockdown.

When looking into what has driven the uplift it was primarily driven by news content consumed on mobile devices with the average daily time spent increasing in June by 12%⁴ in comparison to the same month last year. The average daily time spent consuming news content in June 2021 on desktop devices, whilst 6%⁵ lower than the same month last year, increased by 9%⁶  from May 2021.

Sources: 

1.Digital Media Ratings, Daily Volumetrics, 27 May 2021, Digital C/M, Current Events & Global News Sub-category, Total Time in hours
2.Digital Media Ratings, Daily Volumetrics, 27 June 2021, Digital C/M, Current Events & Global News Sub-category, Total Time in hours
3.Digital Content Planning, Text, Jan – April 2021, Digital C/M, Current Events & Global News sub-category, Universe Reach %.
4.Digital Media Ratings, Daily Volumetrics, 1 – 27 June 2020 vs 1 – 27 June 2021, Mobile, Current Events & Global News Sub-category, Daily average of Total Time in minutes YOY comparison as a % increase. 
5.Digital Media Ratings, Daily Volumetrics, 1 – 27 June 2020 vs 1 – 27 June 2021, Computer, Current Events & Global News Sub-category, Daily average of Total Time in minutes YOY comparison as a % increase. 
6.Digital Media Ratings, Daily Volumetrics, 1 – 31 May 2021 vs 1 – 27 June 2021, Computer, Current Events & Global News Sub-category, Daily average of Total Time in minutes MOM comparison as a % increase.