Nielsen May 2017: 12.7m 18+ access socials via smartphone

• Time per person on social networking via a smartphone up one hour
• News.com.au retained top spot in the News rankings
• International news entities increased unique audiences
• BBC increased unique audience by 16%

More than 90% of Australians aged 18+ engaged with social networking content via a smartphone during May 2017, according to latest data released today by Nielsen.

12.7 million Australians 18+ accessed a social networking site or app via a smartphone device during the month and the average time per person increased by one hour during May 2017 compared to the previous month.

The top five social networking media brands ranked by unique audience, across all devices, according to Nielsen’s research for May 2017 were:

Top 5 by total unique audience, social networking brands, May 2017

Current events & global news

The current events and global news sub-category was steady overall with some movement in the top 10 rankings. Five out of the top 10 increased their unique audience numbers. BBC saw a large jump in unique audience to 2.6 million (+16%) to move to seventh place, up three spots.

Major international news events during May contributed to notable increases in unique audiences to many of the international news entities.

News.com.au retained top position in with a unique audience of 5.8 million (-4%). Nine.com.au moved up from third to second place with a unique audience of 4.7 million (0.6%) and ABC News websites moved to third spot (4.6 million, -6%).

Smh.com.au (3.8 million, -7%), Daily Mail Australia (3.1 million, +5%) and The Guardian (2.9 million, +0.5%) retained their fourth, fifth and sixth positions respectively.

Yahoo 7 News moved to eighth (2.5 million, -11%), The Daily Telegraph retained its ninth position (2.4 million, +3%) and the Herald Sun moved to 10th (2.3 million, -6%).

Top 10 by unique audience, current events & global news sub-category, May 2017