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Nielsen ratings: New figures cement West Australian Newspapers as fastest-growing digital news brand

Headshot of Rourke Walsh
Rourke WalshThe West Australian
The West Australian's online offerings are the fastest growing digital news brand in Australia.
Camera IconThe West Australian's online offerings are the fastest growing digital news brand in Australia. Credit: The West Australian

The West Australian’s status as the nation’s fastest-growing digital news brand was further cemented on Tuesday with the Nielsen ratings for December showing a 14 per cent month-on-month audience rise.

It was the best growth out of any masthead in the country’s top 10 news websites.

And with about 3.2 million individuals coming to The West Australian and its sister site PerthNow in the final month of 2021, it is now firmly entrenched in the top 10 rankings across the country.

West Australian Newspapers now boasts more online users than the Herald Sun and The Age in Victoria, The Australian, and The Daily Telegraph in NSW.

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Local competitor WAtoday, owned by Nine, had just 910,729 browsers in December.

The difference in the number of stories read is even starker.

West Australian Newspapers had a total of 52,700,000 page impressions for December.

WAtoday had less than 10 per cent of that with only 5,162,970 page impressions.

The latest figures come on the back of recent Roy Morgan data that showed West Australian Newspapers was the fastest-growing news brand in the country — with its all-important cross-platform audience rising a staggering 25.1 per cent in a year.

The Roy Morgan data revealed The West Australian and its brands, including The Sunday Times and the PerthNow website, had grown by 882,000 readers in the 12 months to September.

The 25.1 per cent rise was the biggest of any news outlet — ahead of The Australian’s 21.2 per cent growth.

West Australian Newspapers Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie.
Camera IconWest Australian Newspapers Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie. Credit: Ian Munro

West Australian Newspapers Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie said the online growth should surge even further in the year ahead.

“We’re really excited about some of the changes to our digital products we’ll be making in 2022,” he said.

“And we’re going to be launching some new shows, too, as well as new investigations and some new competitions.

“We had a really successful 2021 thanks to online programs like Up Late with Ben Harvey and The West Live podcast with Ben O’Shea.

“We’re definitely going to be expanding our offerings while putting even more resources into the things that our audiences clearly love,” De Ceglie said.

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