Number of online investors in Australia grows by a third

The number of high-net-worth individuals has also increased

Key points:

• The number of online investors in Australia increased by 33% between June 2019 and June 2020
• Appetite for financial content continues to increase
• Articles about the economy, markets and shares are the most popular

The number of online investors in Australia increased by 33% between June 2019 and June 2020, while the number of high-net-worth individuals has increased from 425,000 in 2016 to 490,000 in 2019, according to Nine’s Investment Trends 2020 research.

Appetite for financial content continues to increase, as investors seek to navigate the uncertainties created by the pandemic. Nine Media saw an increase in readership, with between 25% and 45% of readers seeking out more information during August 2020 across their different brands, and less than 7% of readers seeking less information.

Articles about the economy, markets and shares are the most popular on Financial Review, while some of the other Nine brands are also seeing a lot of interest in superannuation funds, real estate and government support.

Source: Nine for Brands

When making investment decisions, 65% of high-net-worth individuals use company websites and annual reports to inform and educate themselves, followed by print publications which are used by 49% of HNW investors. Online search is used by 40% of HNW investors, while 37% uses the ASX website and 31% educate themselves via paid online publications.

Among those with more than AUD 10 million to invest, 71% inform themselves via company websites and annual reports, followed by print publications (61%), main brokers’ research (43%), online search (43%) and paid online publications (38%).

Australian Financial Review, The Australian/The Weekend Australian and AFR Weekend are the most-read print publications among high-net-worth individuals. The most-read online publications are Sydney Morning Herald/Sun Herald, Australian Financial Review and The Age.

Australian Financial Review, Financial Standard, Financial Adviser Magazine and Money & Life Magazine are the top print publications used by financial planners as a source of industry news to support and inform their advice. Their top three online sources of industry news are Morningstar.com.au, InvestorDaily and MoneySmart.

Overall, slightly more than 20% of HNW investors read Australian Financial Review, around 18% read the Sydney Morning Herald/Sun Herald and around 16% read The Australian/The Weekend Australian.

Among financial planners, almost 65% use Australian Financial Review as a source of industry news, while Morningstar.com.au is used by around 57% and Financial Standard by around 55%