Ipsos iris to launch weekly audience data

Ipsos iris will introduce weekly online audience data from 6 November, giving agency and publisher subscribers a faster read on content trends, breaking news spikes and changes in audience behaviour.

The IAB Australia-endorsed digital audience measurement service will release reports every Friday by midday, covering the previous Monday-to-Sunday period. Historical weekly data will be available from July 2026 onwards.

The move will allow publishers to assess which content attracted audiences and benchmark their performance against competitors more frequently. Agencies will gain more timely information to inform campaign planning and investment decisions.

Monthly data will remain the official currency for audience rankings and media reporting.

A closer look at weekly audience shifts

The weekly dashboard will offer a streamlined version of Ipsos iris’ monthly report, covering audience numbers and reach, total minutes spent online, and browser page views and visits across smartphones, PCs, laptops and tablets.

It will also show week-to-week percentage changes, helping subscribers identify emerging trends, seasonal patterns and the impact of major events across websites and apps.

Ipsos will publicly release selected weekly insights around significant news, sporting and current events.

Ipsos Audience Measurement Director of Digital Measurement Heather White said the weekly data would help publishers and agencies identify content trends, short-term audience spikes and the impact of breaking news sooner.

The more frequent reporting would also make seasonal patterns and audience shifts easier to track, allowing publishers to respond through their content programming.

“These changes reflect our ongoing commitment to delivering transparent, robust digital audience measurement that helps the industry make better-informed decisions,” White said.

“Ipsos iris serves as an independent source of truth for the media industry, providing a consistent, level playing field for comparing audience reach and characteristics, supporting Australia’s billion-dollar online advertising market.”

More frequent data for media planning

IAB Australia CEO Gai Le Roy also welcomed the move, pointing to the findings of the industry body’s recent Future of Measurement review.

The review reaffirmed the importance of sustainable, independent audience data in helping agencies and media owners compare media environments and make investment decisions.

“Consistent metrics, standardised structures and access to granular, timely data are increasingly important to the industry,” Le Roy said.

She said evolving privacy expectations, regulatory requirements and the ongoing loss of audience tracking signals had increased the need for transparent, privacy-compliant measurement.

“Ipsos iris has struck an important balance in delivering audience data more frequently for greater responsiveness in media planning, while maintaining the quality, governance and checks that underpin its credibility.”

Ipsos iris combines data from a nationally representative, single-source passive panel with site-centric census measurement through media owner tagging. Its panel measures activity across 8,000 devices.

The weekly reports will sit alongside the existing monthly releases and daily volumetric data available to tagged content owner subscribers.

Weekly reporting begins in July 2026, when Ipsos iris moved to reporting Australians aged 18 and over. Comparisons with audience figures from before that change are not valid.