ABC surges in December 2019 Nielsen figures as Australians hunt for bushfire coverage
The historically quiet holiday period has seen numbers stay relatively high for December 2019 in the Nielsen Digital Content Rankings as Australians flock to online news for information about the bushfire crisis across the country.
During this time, ABC News Websites rose 5.56% to 10.055m in unique audience, taking second place from Nine which dropped 2.77% to 9.433m. News.com.au fell back below 11m, a record it cracked for the first time in November, drawing a UA of 10.593m, a 5.66% drop.
ABC’s bushfire coverage has drawn a wide audience
After debuting on the Nielsen DCR six months ago in fifth place, 7news.com.au held onto that spot in December, delivering a UA of 8.654m, a jump of under 1% from November. Just before its launch, Seven’s former chief digital officer, Clive Dickens, said the platform would be the number one news site within six months. December saw the site hold its biggest audience to date, with executive producer Phil Goyen saying the brand is constantly evolving.
“Our audience is our absolute focus. We will continue to build and evolve with our readers and viewers at the centre of every decision we make,” said Goyen.
The fourth spot went to smh.com.au which rose 4.53% to 8.441m in UA. When compared to December 2018, consumption was up across the board, likely a result of the bushfire crisis and news sites that usually operate with a paywall putting their bushfire content outside the wall.
The top ten news and current events sites in Australia for December 2019 according to Nielsen Digital Content Ratings [click to enlarge]
The Age followed with 4.468m, up 6.2%, then Australian Community Media (ACM) Network on 4.403m, a 4.2% drop.
Yahoo ended the top ten with a 4.59% jump to 3.554m UA. In November the site was under-reported due to a tagging issue.
In the smaller publishers, December was a great month for Junkee which rose 12.31% to 1.262m UA. Pedestrian Group dropped 4.29% to 4.118m and Urban List rose 3.64% to 1.785m. Urban List is currently reporting growth for six months in a row.
Broadsheet Media rose 5.00% to 1.281m UA, Vice Network dropped 11.13% to 1.107m and Concrete Playground rose just under 1% to 1.213m. Man of Many reported a sizable increase of 31.9% to 210,887.
If you’d like to assist with bushfire recovery, relief and rescue efforts, please explore the options below:
- New South Wales Rural Fire Service
- Victorian Country Fire Authority
- South Australian Country Fire Service
- Queensland Rural Fire Service
- Salvation Army Disaster Appeal
- St Vincent de Paul Society Bushfire Appeal
- Australian Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief
- WIRES (Wildlife Rescue) Emergency Fund
- Koalas in Care
- Western Australia Volunteer Fire and Rescue
7News time per person…outstanding.
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Why are comparison sites (with large traffic) not mentioend in this list like Finder and Canstar?
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Hi Tom Mac,
The list we cover only includes publishers which are tagged in the ‘news’ category. If you look at the bottom of the graphic you can see all the information about what category the websites are tagged.
You are right, a lot of those sites have big traffic, but we’re reporting specifically on the news sites.
Thanks!
Hannah – Mumbrella