According to recent research released by Roy Morgan Research 7,427,000 Australians over the age of 14 (37.9%) used Gmail in an average four weeks in the 12 months to March 2016—for the first time exceeding the 7,362,000 emailing through a Microsoft account (37.6%).
“Nearly three quarters of Australians use one (or more!) of these big four email services in an average four weeks. Free email accounts are mostly advertising-supported. The fine print of signing up is that email content is analysed by automated systems. Many of us have experienced seeing search results or digital advertising that reflect something we’d mentioned in a recent email.” Michele Levine CEO Roy Morgan Research commented.
Ms Levine pointed out that the change in lead has been a long time coming: since 2012, Gmail has claimed over 3.5 million new Australian users, averaging almost 900,000 new emailers annually and almost doubling its user base. Hotmail/Live/Outlook.com has gained 1.1 million more active users over the period, with the bulk of growth in just the year following the transition to Outlook.com in early 2013, after which the number of users has remained fairly steady. Levine added that in distant third is Telstra’s BigPond Email, with 2,912,000 Australians (14.9%) visiting the site in an average four weeks, down from 3,394,000 in 2012. After losing some emailers in the 12 months to March 2013, Yahoo!7 Mail has since regained an average of close to 100,000 emailers annually, and now has 2,156,000 users (11.0%)—back above its base in 2012. Levine added that overall, 14,330,000 Australians over the age 14 (73%) now use one or more of these email services.

Number of Australians who visit email site in an average four weeks

“Although nearly 70% of Australians say they’re worried about invasion of privacy through new technologies, we use free email services knowing that our emails will be ‘read’ and advertising will be customised and tailored. Done well, this can work for both the advertisers (who want to target more accurately and cost-effectively) and users (who would prefer search results and ads are relevant).” Ms Levine commented.