Princess Kate, Sam Kerr, and NRL in Vegas: News reaches 20.7m people in March

News in March reached 20.7 million people, with both entertainment stories and more serious headlines capturing Australia’s attention, according to the latest Ipsos iris data.

On the lighter side, the AFL and NRL season launches – particularly the NRL Las Vegas event – the Sydney Mardi Gras parade, the Oscars winners and red carpet, and the final weeks of Married At First Sight and Australian Idol drove online news.

More serious news people turned to included Princess Katherine’s cancer diagnosis, the Matildas’ Sam Kerr’s alleged racial slur to a police officer, the wars in the Ukraine and Gaza, youth conflict in Alice Springs, the arrest of Samantha Murphy’s alleged killer, the Baltimore Bridge collapse, and Moscow Concert Hall attacks.

More than 20.7 million people used a news website or app in March, reaching 96.6% of online Australians aged 14+. A total of 21.5 million Australians aged 14+ used the internet in March and spent on average 4.3 hours per day, or almost 134 hours in the month, online.

Ipsos iris data shows that news.com.au holds the top digital news brand spot for the 15th consecutive month, with an audience of 12.94 million in March – up 4.2% month-on-month. The average time spent on the site was 27 minutes per person.

News.com.au editor Kerry Warren said a main driver of the result was the About Bloody Time campaign, which launched on 1 March and advocates for longer, Medicare-funded consultation for the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis.

“We launched About Bloody Time with the goal of getting 20,000 signatures on our petition by International Women’s Day on March 8,” Warren said.

“Instead, we got 20,000 in under 24 hours, and finished up with more than 50,000 signatures. Even though we knew more than one million Australians suffer from endometriosis, the results blew us away.”

In the wider results, sports was the fastest growing category, up 11.2% in March compared to February 2024. It was followed by automotive (up 1.9%) and health (up 1.7%). The average time per person spent on the sports category rose by 29.8%, as the AFL, NRL and Super Rugby all kicked off their 2024 seasons.

Lifestyle websites and apps also saw a significant increase in average time spent per person online for the month, growing by 11.4%.