While retail-related companies dominated Australian audience growth in the top 100 consumer websites and apps in 2023, Open AI, owners of ChatGPT, topped the list by Ipsos iris.
Following Open AI was Temu, Mastercard, Shop App, Afterpay, Doordash, Big W, Dan Murphy’s, Target and Woolworths’ gift cards.
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-plus spent more than 3.8 hours a day online, up 3.4% 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 and utilities was the fastest growing category in December, rising by 11.8% compared to November.
December was the highest audience all year for the events and attractions category (up 7%) as Australians sought information about things to do over the Christmas/summer break, while the games category (up 5.2%) also had its highest audience for the year in December.
Major global and local news events continued to fuel online reading of news sites, with almost 20.4 million people using a news website or app in December. This was slightly down on the peak news consumption month of November.
News events in Queensland in December, including tropical cyclone Jasper and the resignation of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, saw Queensland-based news websites and apps record significant audience increases compared to November, bucking the overall trend for news.