News.com.au may have taken out the top spot again with the most unique audience in the latest Nielsen Online Ratings figures for Aussie news sites, but Fairfax’s The Sydney Morning Herald site is hot on its tail, with the closest gap between first and second place in recent history.
The current figures show news.com.au with a unique audience of 3,906,00 as the SMH records a unique audience of 3,889,000.
News.com.au still retains a clear lead in the amount of page views per person (60) and time per person (1:42.37). The site reached 21 per cent of the online Aussie population.
The SMH is no stranger to being top dog in the online ratings race, and has been closing the gap since news.com.au took over first place.
The latest results also has Nielsen suggesting people are consuming more and more financial news and information, recording more than 1.1 million unique visitors than this time last year.
John Price, a director in Nielsen’s Media Industry Group, said that audience growth in the category had outperformed many others and was indicative of consumer interest in the sector.
“With seven per cent more people engaging with financial news and information content since March 2015, and an additional 25 per cent since April 2014, there is a growing appetite for consumers to be informed about the financial and economic conditions impacting their lives.”
