Tuesdata: After five years in the market, Amazon is now Australia’s biggest online retail player
Welcome to Tuesdata, our weekly members-only analysis of key metrics within the media and marketing industry.
In today’s edition we look more closely at the first set of data from the new Ipsos Iris digital audience metric. Further down we also check in on how the Unmade Index started the week
As well as access to all editions of Tuesdata, Unmade’s paying members can see our full archive, which goes behind the paywall after two months. They also receive discounts on tickets to Unmade’s growing list of industry conferences and other events.
Behind the Iris numbers
Web rankings are back.
For most of the previous decade, a small part of the monthly rhythm of media was the release of the headline info from Nielsen’s Digital Content Ratings. Remember all those news stories about news.com.au and Daily Mail doing battle for the top slot?
Most of the attention would go to the ups and downs of the news sites, mainly because they were where most of the movement came from in any given month. However, data was also available on any brand with a digital presence.
That ground to a halt two years ago, when Nielsen prepared to roll out a rebooted Digital Content Rankings. The change was because the outlawing of third party cookies would mean the end of following audience behaviour using the old methodology.
Nielsen had long seemed to be the IAB’s favourite child, having won the IAB’s first measurement tender back in 2011, in somewhat contentious circumstances, against the likes of ComScore and Roy Morgan Research.
Given the IAB’s wide base of membership, endorsement bestows upon the measurement provider status as the unofficial industry currency.
But last April, the IAB decided not to endorse the updated Nielsen methodology, and instead called a new tender, which was eventually won by Ipsos.
Which brings us to this week’s data release. We will of course cover off the rankings of those news sites. But first, let’s look at what’s been going on in retail, because that’s where Amazon has surged to the fore.
First I’m going to do something which risks having me excommunicated from the International Church of Data Lovers (or even worse, earning a politely disapproving note from John Grono). I’m going to compare data from two different methodologies.
There’s a reason I’m doing so. I want to give a sense of how fast Amazon has moved over the last two years.
Back at the end of 2020, under the Nielsen methodology, Google’s parent company had the highest unique monthly audience of 19.998m. Under the new Ipsos methodology, that number is estimated at 20.933m. So pretty similar.
Broadly the same thing goes for the Woolworths group. Nielsen put its monthly audience at 13.418m. Ipsos now puts it at 15.868m.
Two years ago, Amazon was back on 12.466m, behind Woolworths. Now, it’s Australia’s biggest retailer.
That’s not because of the changed methodology during the trend break. It’s because of Amazon’s growth.
One of the messages at last week’s RE:Made retail media conference was that the world changes fundamentally for any market where Amazon is a player. Five years after arriving in Australia, that moment has indeed now arrived in Australia.
The data comes with all the usual caveats. Not least is that this refers to brand group.
That 11.434m you see for the Woolworths brand on the chart above rises to 15.868m when you factor in additional reach across the wider group (Everyday Rewards, Big W etc).
But Amazon’s group number rises from 14.46m to 16.318m – however you cut it, Amazon is now the biggest retail player.
Also available on the Ipsos Iris data is time spent in each month. On that metric, Amazon also stomps on Woolworths and Coles, with an average of 44 minutes per person. Woolworths is 23 minutes and Coles just over 13.
Behind the scenes, the disruptive Amazon Advertising model is kicking into gear in Australia. That will change the advertising ecosystem.
Initially. the arrival of Amazon had looked like an anti-climax. No longer.
As promised, on to the news category. There have been big changes.
Under Nielsen, the old order had settled at:
ABC News
Daily Mail
Nine.com.au
news.com.au
7News
That’s all changed. News Corp’s news.com.au is on top. The ABC has slumped to fourth and the Daily Mail to fifth.
We’ll dig more into the news category in future months.
Unmade Index has a good Monday
The Unmade Index of ASX listed media and marketing companies had a good day on Monday, following the wider ASX All Ordinaries upwards.
The biggest gain in a broadcasting stock came for Seven West Media, up by 3.66%. Nine wasn’t far behind, rising by 2.68%
Time to leave you to your Tuesday. I’ll be back with a midweek update tomorrow.
Have a great day.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher – Unmade
tim@unmade.media
