Combined reach

The ABC’s combined national audience reach across television, radio and online was estimated to be 67.6% over a period of a week in 2020,¹ a decrease of 0.7 percentage points compared to the ABC’s net reach in 2019 (68.3%).​²​ This overall decline is driven by a decline in reach for broadcast television.

ABC digital properties

Use of ABC digital products accelerated in 2019-20. ABC digital products reported an average of 14.3 million weekly unique users, an increase of 37% on the previous year's average.³

Use of the ABC News website and the ABC News mobile app increased by 35% and 47% respectively, significant year-on-year changes driven by the ABC’s coverage of the disastrous 2019-20 bushfire season and the COVID-19 pandemic.⁴

The ABC iview suite (comprising ABC iview, ABC Kids iview and ABC ME app) averaged 1.9 million weekly unique users in 2019-20.⁵ Usage increased dramatically during the COVID-19 crisis. In the April-June quarter of 2020, average weekly users were up 35% on the same period last year.⁶ Time spent watching ABC livestreams on iview also more than doubled in the final quarter. Usage peaked in April 2020 with many Australians homebound during initial lockdown. The usage of iview on connected TVs accelerated rapidly in March 2020, overtaking other iview platforms (web and mobile apps).⁷

Audiences using the ABC listen app continued to grow steadily, with an average 340,000 weekly unique users in 2019-20, up 34% year-on-year, with an extraordinary time-per-user of 230 minutes per user per week.⁸ Usage peaked in April.

The triple j app increased its weekly users by 28% year-on-year, with spikes driven by the Hottest 100, Hottest 100 of the decade and Requestival.⁹

ABC in third-party environments

The ABC continued to achieve growth in social media audiences in 2019-20, boosted by interest in bushfire coverage and emergency updates in January 2020, and increased audience appetite for news, entertainment, education and public health information throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABC’s average weekly reach on third-party platforms in 2019-20 was 19.8%, up from 14.7% in 2018-19. Third-party reach peaked at 24.8% in March 2020.

YouTube

YouTube provides a platform to drive discovery and awareness of ABC content, and reach younger audiences. ABC YouTube channels saw 72% growth in unique viewers for the second consecutive year, with 13.4 million monthly unique viewers in 2019-20. The majority of ABC YouTube channels experienced strong growth in views, viewers and watch time throughout the pandemic, with audiences seeking news and information about the virus, as well as entertainment and distraction during the lockdown period.

ABC News Australia had the largest YouTube audience with 8.8 million monthly unique viewers in 2019-20, followed by triple j with 7.4 million, and ABC News In-depth with 5.8 million.¹⁰ ABC News In-depth was launched in September 2019 as a destination for ABC current affairs, investigations and extended interview content, and has shown rapid growth, becoming the top ABC channel based on total watch time in 2020.

Facebook

Facebook also drives ABC content discovery, and assists with engaging audiences in conversations about the issues that matter to them. Facebook continued to be an important source of website traffic for the ABC in 2019-20, particularly for younger audiences. ABC Facebook pages saw 43% growth in monthly unique users in 2019-20, to an average of 6.4million.¹¹ The ABC News Facebook page had the largest number of unique users at 1.1 million per month. ABC’s eight capital city Facebook pages had a total of 3 million unique users per month, while the 41 regional location pages had 2 million, highlighting the important role these pages play in connecting the ABC with local communities.¹²

Instagram

Instagram provides an opportunity to introduce new and younger audiences to ABC content particularly through interactive visual storytelling. ABC Instagram accounts saw 61% growth in followers in 2019-20, and there are now 2.5 million followers across all ABC Instagram accounts.¹³ The vast majority of followers are Australian and aged under 45, with a skew towards females.

The triple j Instagram account had the largest number of followers in 2019-20 with 759,000, followed by ABC News (522,000), Gardening Australia (172,000), ABC Australia (159,000) and triple j Hack (149,000). Instagram video views increased dramatically in 2019-20 as Instagram prioritised its IGTV feature. ABC Instagram accounts received more than 70 million video views in 2019-20; an increase of 95% on the previous year.¹⁴

Radio

Average weekly reach in the five-city metropolitan markets for ABC Radio (including DAB+ stations) was 5.1 million people aged 10+ in 2019-20, up 198,000 listeners on the 2018-19 result. Audience share was up 0.4 share points on 2018-19 to 23.5%.¹⁵ 59% of Australians believed the quality of programming on ABC Radio was 'Very Good' or 'Good'.¹⁶

DAB+

ABC’s DAB+ stations include Double J, ABC Jazz, triple j Unearthed, ABC Grandstand, ABC Country and ABC Kids listen. Average weekly reach in the five-city metropolitan markets for ABC DAB+ stations was 728,000 in 2019-20, down 4.7% on 2018-19. Audience share of total listening was 1.5%, stable on the 1.6% of the previous year.¹⁷

Local Radio

ABC Local Radio’s five-city metropolitan average weekly reach was 2 million, up 4.4% from 1.9 million in 2018-19. Audience share was 8.5%, up 0.2 points on 2018-19 (8.3%).¹⁸ There were 70 million unique podcast downloads of ABC Local Capital Cities content in 2019-20, up 20% compared to 2018-19.¹⁹

triple j

ABC’s national youth network triple j recorded increases in broadcast audiences in 2019-20. Five-city metropolitan average weekly reach among people aged 10+ was 2.1 million in 2019-20, up from 2018-19 (1.9 million). Audience share was 6.3%, steady with 2018-19.²⁰ triple j recorded a total of 19 million unique podcast downloads in 2019-20, down 2% compared to 2018-19.²¹

RN

RN’s five-city metropolitan average weekly reach was 707,000 in 2019-20, up 9.6% on the 2018-19 result of 645,000. Audience share was 2.6% in 2019-20, steady on 2018-19.²² RN recorded a total of 83 million unique podcast downloads in 2019-20, up 10% compared to 2018-19.²³

ABC Classic

ABC Classic’s five-city metropolitan average weekly reach was 826,000 in 2019-20, up from 744,000 in 2018-19. Audience share was steady in 2019-20 at 3.0%, compared with 2.9% in 2018-19.²⁴

ABC NEWS

ABC NEWS' five-city metropolitan average weekly reach was 778,000 in 2019-20, up 8.5% from 718,000 in 2018-19. Audience share remained relatively steady at 1.6%.²⁵ There were 49 million unique downloads of ABC NEWS podcasts in 2019-20, up significantly compared to 2018-19.²⁶

News and current affairs on radio

The news and current affairs programs on Local Radio and RN reached on average, 1.7 million people aged 10+ each week in the five-city metropolitan market in 2019-20. This was up 3.5% on 2018-19.²⁷

ABC listen app

The listen app provides access to both live ABC Radio and ABC podcasts. Monthly active users of the app increased by 28% in 2019-20, to 583,000.²⁸

News and current affairs

ABC News experienced audience increases on most platforms in 2019-20, driven by major news events including the bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019-20 ABC news and current affairs on ABC main and ABC NEWS channel reached 6.6 million average weekly metropolitan and regional viewers, an increase of 3% compared to 2018-19.²⁹

News programs

7pm News bulletin audiences were up year-on-year across the week in 2019-20: the Monday-Friday edition achieved a combined metropolitan and regional average audience of 979,000 (up 2%), Saturday averaged 963,000 (up 3%) and Sunday averaged 994,000 (up 2%).³⁰News Breakfast achieved a combined average audience of 272,000 across the main channel and ABC NEWS simulcast, an increase of 10% compared to 2018-19.³¹

Current affairs programs

Current affairs programs achieved mixed results in 2019-20, with audiences stronger in 2020. On ABC main channel, audiences increased in 2019-20 for 7.30 (up 2% to a combined average audience of 847,000) and Foreign Correspondent (up 4% to 675,000).³² Australian Story was steady on the previous year with a combined average audience of 999,000, while Four Corners audiences were marginally down (-1%) to 846,000.³³ Audiences declined year-on-year for Q+A - down 9% to a combined average audience of 528,000 - and Insiders, which had a combined average audience of 587,000 across the main channel and ABC NEWS simulcast, down 2% compared to 2018-19.³⁴

ABC NEWS

In 2019-20, ABC NEWS channel experienced significant audience increases across platforms. On broadcast TV, ABC NEWS channel maintained its position as Australia’s leading 24-hour news channel with a metropolitan and regional weekly reach of 3.5 million viewers; an increase of 11% compared to 2018-19.³⁵ Year-on-year growth was greater still on digital platforms. ABC NEWS livestream plays on iview were up 111% on the previous year to a monthly average of 1.5 million in 2019-20,³⁶ while on YouTube, livestream views were up 161% to a monthly average of 2.3 million.³⁷

Video views for ABC NEWS on-demand content also grew in 2019-20. On iview there were 1.8 million average monthly news and current affairs plays in 2019-20, up 18% compared to 2018-19, with the increase driven by current affairs programs.³⁸ Across the two ABC NEWS channels on YouTube, on-demand views averaged 22.4 million per month in 2019-20, an increase of 111% on 2018-19.³⁹

ABC NEWS Online reached an average of 10.9 million Australians each month in 2019-20, up 27% compared with 2018-19. This equates to 44% of the Australian population, an increase from 35% in 2018-19.⁴⁰ ABC NEWS saw the highest monthly audience on record for an Australian news brand in March 2020.

The ABC NEWS Facebook page had 1.3 million monthly unique users in 2019-20, a decline of 9% compared with the previous year.⁴¹ On YouTube, ABC News channels experienced strong growth, with unique monthly viewers increasing by 75% in 2019-20 to an average of 12.8 million.⁴²

Television

Total ABC Viewing

Following years of steady decline, Total TV reach was only slightly down in 2019-20 when compared with 2018-19, as audience behaviours shifted in response to the unprecedented and transformative events of 2020. Video-on-demand services solidified their position in the Australian market, with both local and international providers contributing to the fragmentation of viewing. Broadcast television and iview performance across the ABC network was reflective of broader market trends, as audiences continued to turn to on-demand platforms that offer myriad alternatives to scheduled viewing.

Metro

Total ABC metropolitan average weekly reach in 2019-20 was 8.1 million people, or 46% of the five-city metropolitan population. This was slightly down compared to 2018-19 (8.15 million; 47.0%).⁴³

Total ABC metropolitan Total TV share during daytime increased in 2019-20. Across its four channels, ABC Television achieved a metropolitan daytime Total TV share of 19.7%, up from 18.3% in 2018-19.⁴⁴

Total ABC metropolitan share during prime time was also up in 2019-20 compared to the previous year. Prime-time Total TV share for Total ABC across the five metropolitan cities was 14.3% in 2019-20 (13.8% in 2018-19).⁴⁵

Regional

In the combined aggregated regional markets including Tasmania, Total ABC average weekly reach in 2019-20 was 3.6 million people or 49.5% of the regional population. This was slightly down compared to 2018-19 (3.7 million; 51.2%).⁴⁶

In 2019-20, Total ABC regional Total TV share during daytime slightly decreased to 19.4%, down from 19.6% in 2018-19. Total ABC regional share during prime time was 14.5% in 2019-20 (14.8% in 2018-19).⁴⁷

iview

In 2019-20, there were 881.4 million average monthly minutes across iview, which is a 33% increase on the 2018-19 monthly average of 662.9 million minutes.⁴⁸

Metropolitan daytime share
Total ABC, Total TV share of viewing %, 6am-6pm

Regional daytime share
Total ABC, Total TV share of viewing %, 6am-6pm

Metropolitan prime-time share
Total ABC, Total TV share of viewing %, 6pm-midnight

Regional prime-time share
Total ABC, Total TV share of viewing %, 6pm-midnight

Average weekly metropolitan reach
Total ABC, 24-hour, five-minute consecutive viewing

Average weekly regional reach
Total ABC, 24-hour, five-minute consecutive viewing

International

In 2019, ABC International reached a unique overseas audience of 10,967,000 each month on ABC Australia, ABC Radio Australia and ABC websites and apps. Audiences came from across the globe, engaging with a wide variety of ABC brands and platforms.

ABC International also reached significantly large audiences off-platform, through social media and on-demand platforms such as YouTube. In 2019-20 there were 428,075,000 views of pan-ABC content on YouTube (245,284,000 in 2018-19, which amounts to 75% growth on the previous year).⁴⁹

Additionally, audiences engaged with in-language content through the ABC's news and social media partners in the Indo-Pacific. This content complemented the ABC Language Services: ABC中文, ABC Bahasa Indonesian, and ABC Tok Pisin. In 2019-20, there were 79,000 average weekly users for these services (2018-19 not available), with 7,908,000 page views in total - growth of 181% on the previous year's 2,811,000 million.⁵⁰