The Headline Number
Australians spend an average of 6 hours and 8 minutes online every day.
That’s not browsing time. That’s active connected time — work, research, entertainment, communication and commerce combined. For marketers, it represents a substantial daily window of attention that most businesses are competing for with a fraction of the strategy it deserves.
It Skews Young — But Not Exclusively
The heaviest users are 16–24 year olds at 7 hours 18 minutes daily, followed closely by 25–34 year olds at 7 hours 12 minutes.
But usage remains high well into older age groups. Australians aged 45–54 average nearly 6 hours online daily. Even the 65+ cohort averages 4 hours 23 minutes — a figure that consistently surprises businesses who’ve written off older audiences as digitally disengaged.
Device Tells the Real Story
Younger Australians are almost entirely mobile — 89% of the 16–24 cohort accesses the internet primarily through their phone.
After age 45, that shifts. Desktop usage increases progressively, becoming the dominant device by 55+. This has direct implications for ad creative, landing page design and checkout flow. Mobile volume is high, but desktop still converts better for complex or high-value transactions.
What 6+ Hours Actually Means for Businesses
Reach is not the problem. Australians are online, and they’re reachable.
The constraint is attention quality. Six hours of daily online time is spread across search, social, streaming, messaging and work tools simultaneously. Being present on a platform is not enough — the message, format and timing all determine whether that attention is ever captured.
How ROI Helps Businesses Make the Most of Australian Online Time
ROI helps businesses stop competing on volume and start competing on relevance.
That means identifying where your specific audience spends their online time — not just what platforms they use, but what mode they’re in when they’re there. A 45-year-old researching home loans on a desktop at 9pm requires a completely different approach than a 25-year-old scrolling Instagram on their phone at lunch. ROI builds campaigns around those distinctions — matching message, format and channel to behaviour rather than just demographics — so that your marketing captures attention when it counts, not just when it’s cheapest.
