Australia’s top news sites take a hit despite election
Readers turned away from Australia’s top news sites in droves in April, with only 7news.com.au and The Age increasing their readership.
April saw the escalation of Donald Trump’s tariff war, the death of Pope Francis, and four weeks of relentless federal election coverage. There was also a tasty mushroom poisoning trial, floods in Queensland, and ANZAC Day controversary.
Despite the glut of news, Australians turned away from the major news sites according to the latest Ipsos iris data, with eight of the top ten sites cumulatively losing 2.93 million unique readers this month. ABC News remains in top spot, but lost audience, albeit a modest 1%.
Nine.com.au had the biggest fall, losing over a million people in a single month – close to 10% of its readership. News.com.au lost 550,000 readers, down 4.4%, while The Guardian shed 413,000 readers, after a massive March, which saw the publication increase its readership by 16% from February — some 1.2 million readers.
Nine.com.au lost over a million readers in 30 days.
The Daily Mail dropped 378,000 readers, Yahoo lost 264,000, while the SBS and Sydney Morning Herald had smaller decreases.
Ahead of the pending defection of Seven’s news boss to the Perth Bears, 7news.com.au enjoyed a stellar April, gaining over half a million readers during the month. Likewise, Melbourne’s The Age added 274,000 readers, up 6.3% to provide some good news for Nine during a bad news month.
The April results could either be read as a market correction of sorts, after every site in the top 10 rose in March, or a bellwether of shifting trends away from major news outlets. As Mumbrella reported last week, the major masthead’s endorsements did little to sway the public vote in the federal election.
The numbers also no doubt reflect the big Easter holiday break in the middle of the month, that saw many Australians take three days off work between Easter Monday and Anzac Day.
Next month’s results will reveal more.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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topics
7news.com.au
ABC News
Anzac Day
australian news media
news.com.au
Nine
Nine.com.au
Seven
Sydney Morning Herald
The Age
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