The cost of living crisis in 2023 saw Australians flock to shopping websites and apps to hunt for value and convenience, with retail-related companies dominating audience growth in the top 100 consumer websites and apps in 2023; however, Open AI, owners of ChatGPT, topped the list as consumers embraced AI technology, according to Ipsos iris data.
During 2023, the largest audience growth among the top 100 consumer websites and apps was on Open AI. This was followed by Temu, Mastercard, Shop App, Afterpay, Doordash, Big W, Dan Murphy’s, Target Australia and Woolworths’ gift cards.
The chart below shows audience growth of each of the Top 10 sites and apps for 2023 over the 12
month period.
In December, retail website and app audiences maintained the record highs reached in November.
Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that overall in December, Australians aged 14+ spent more than 3.8 hours a day online, up 3.4 per cent on November and totalling 117 hours for the month.
The most consumed website and app categories in December were technology (21 million), social networking at 21 million, followed by search engines (20.9 million), retail and commerce (20.7 million) and entertainment (20.6 million).
Energy & Utilities was the fastest growing category in December, rising by 11.8 per cent compared to November. December was the highest audience all year for the Events & Attractions category (up 7 per cent) as Australians sought information about things to do over the Christmas/summer break, while the Games category (up 5.2 per cent) also had its highest audience for the year in December.
Major global and local news events continued to fuel online reading of news sites. Weather events such as tropical cyclone Jasper, the deadly storms in Southeast Queensland, celebrity news including actor Matthew Perry’s autopsy results, broadcaster Alan Jones’s sex scandal accusations and the deaths of Bill Granger and Ryan O’Neil, plus the resignation of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial against Network 10, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, and HSC and VCE results saw almost 20.4 million people use a news website or app in December, slightly down on the peak news consumption month of November.
The news events in Queensland in December saw Queensland-based news websites and apps record significant audience increases compared to November, bucking the overall trend for news.
The News category includes audience and time spent online on both general news and broader news content including weather, sport, lifestyle, entertainment, and business news.
The chart below shows the News brands’ ranking during December 2023 by online audience size.
Ipsos iris, which officially launched in March 2023, provides accurate data about the 21 million Australians aged 14+ who access a wide variety of digital content and services across smartphone, PC/laptop and tablet devices.
