Marketing intelligence platform, Pathmatics with parent brand, Sensor Tower, has revealed the Australian brands that spent the most money in digital advertising alongside the most popular app downloads for the year.

Amid a global pandemic, and coming out of lockdowns, the ‘My GovID’ was the most downloaded app of 2022. Scoring a total of 3,392,000 app downloads, the platform was essential in many Australian lives, accessing important information regarding driver licences, birth certificates and passports. Although it was the most downloaded app, My GovID has a rating of 1.6 out of 5 stars (these figures outline the response to an under developed app).

Coming in second, Disney+ received a total of 2,550,000 downloads, while TikTok became the most downloaded social media app with 2,547,000. Zuckerberg’s Meta did well with Messenger as the most downloaded, 2,246,000. 

Top 10 popular apps

5. Whatsapp Messenger – 2,246,000 downloads
6. Microsoft Teams – 2,192,000 downloads
7. BeReal – 2,117,000 downloads
8. Facebook – 2,034,000 downloads
9. McDonald’s – 1,812,000 downloads
10. Instagram – 1,745,000 downloads

Who were the biggest digital ad spenders? 

Foxtel topped the industry by being the highest digital ad spender, with a total of $51,450,700 for the year. Behind Foxtel, Yum! Brands spent $33,043,700 and Woolworths spent $30,694,600. The data indicates that Woolworths’ main competitor, Coles, spent less on their digital presence this year, ranking in 11th place with a total spend of $19,241,900. 

One of the biggest mishaps over the year were data breaches, as both Optus and Telstra were embroiled in some of the year’s biggest data mishaps, but  Telstra topped its competitor Optus with a total digital ad spend of $30,378,500.

Top 10 biggest ad spenders

5. Victorian Government – $28,277,800

6. Chemist Warehouse – $23,811,100

7. Menulog – $23,607,500

8. Shopify – $23,134,400

9.Westpac – $21,505,000

10. Amazon – $20,644,900