ABC surges to the top of Nielsen’s digital ranking with 11.2m unique audience

For the first time in the latest iteration of the Nielsen Digital Content Ratings, which launched in 2018, news.com.au has been unseated from the top spot, with ABC News Websites soaring to 11.190m in unique audience, an 11.3% rise month-on-month.

The jump came from 10.055m in December, which saw ABC jump to second place, a 5.56% rise from November. It’s thought the bushfire coverage from the outlet gave it a boost during what is usually a quiet period.

ABC News has nabbed the top spot in the Nielsen DCR for the first month of 2020

News.com.au stayed fairly steady month-on-month, holding a unique audience of 10.502m for January, down slightly from 10.593m in December. Nine.com.au held onto third place with 9.341m, another slight drop from 9.433m the month prior.

December was a good month for most websites, with growth almost across the board, but January told a different story. Smh.com.au was knocked from fourth place to sixth, with 7News reporting a 9.291m UA, up from 8.420m last month, a 10.3% jump. Daily Mail Australia also had a great month, rising from 7.770m in December to 8.810m in January, up 13.4%.

Comparatively, smh.com.au fell 9.0% to 8.029m from 8.823m.

Nielsen DCR top ten current events and global news sites – January 2020 [Click to enlarge]

7News executive producer, Phil Goyen, said the news outlet is staying humble, despite its success.

“It’s a big number but we never forget that each one of those numbers is a person – on the bus, on the train, at home. We’re here to serve them and grateful to every person who visits us,” said Goyen.

“We’re only 10 months old, so look forward to evolving and experimenting alongside our audience.”

The Guardian held seventh place with 6.511m, a 10.8% rise from 5.877m in December. Australian Community Media Network overtook The Age with a 14.0% rise to 5.021m from 4.402m. The Age fell 3.8% to 4.298m.

That’s the second month of record growth for The Guardian which reported its highest ever audience in December and has now beaten the figure.

Dan Stinton, managing director of the title, said the figures are a reflection of the hard work the organisation has put into making its newsroom the best possible.

“Guardian Australia undertook a significant expansion of our newsroom last year, and we are thrilled to see that investment paying off. More than a quarter of all Australians come to us for our quality, independent reporting – especially around the environment and the climate emergency,” said Stinton.

“This second month in a row of record growth is a testament to our journalists’ hard work in covering the environmental and bushfire crisis with such depth and integrity.”

The top ten 10 completed with Yahoo which rose 19.0%, the month’s biggest growth, to 4.227m in UA, up from 3.554m.

In the smaller publishers, Pedestrian Group Network, which now includes the former Allure titles and is owned by Nine, reported a UA of 4.129m – up 4.8% from December where it reported a 4.2% drop.

Urban List reported a 4.8% jump to 1.871m, Vice Media a 3.0% rise to 1.140m and Junkee Media fell 7.5% to 1.167m after rising 12.3% in December.

Broadsheet Media jumped 15.7% to 1.482m and Concrete Playground fell 4.7% to 1.154m.