Steady Job Postings Keep Australia’s Online Classifieds Afloat Amid Digital Ad Boom

SYDNEY, Sept. 4, 2025 — In the prime days of print media, when newspapers ruled the roost in Australia, pages of publications such as The Herald Sun Australia, The Canberra Times and others would be dotted with classified ads.

From rentals to marriage proposals and a plethora of educational classified ads, were in the recent past be seen end to end in several publications.

The online boom along with bringing a paradigm shift in all walks of life has also led to a cascading impact on advertising.

Traditionally known to be a hub for high newspaper circulations as well as a robust readership, Australia, like other nations has also experienced a downwards trajectory of print media.

A trend that showed its first signs during the COVID-19 pandemic and intensified in the following years, classified ads in newspapers have reduced considerably.

In Australia, like other countries, print media’s loss has been digital medium’s gain. The traffic of classified ads has thick and fast diverted to the online medium. 

However, latest market trends indicate that there has been no change of fate for classified ads in the Australian advertising market. The job posting though continue to keep the category of online classified ad ticking.

According to the IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report released last month, classifieds experienced the most significant share decline, dropping from 16.2 percent of total expenditure in FY24 to 15.2 percent in FY25.

The report, prepared by PwC Australia has revealed that search advertising maintained its position as the largest category, commanding 44 percent of total market share at $7.6 billion. However, its share decreased by 0.4 percentage points compared to FY24, indicating relative growth in other advertising formats.

Are Steady Job Postings Helping Online Classifieds? 

Australia’s job advertisements maintained a steady momentum in August, highlighting a still resilient labor market amid lower interest rates, while a bounce in retail hiring was expected to persist into coming months, reported Reuters.

Data from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and employment website Indeed last week revealed the number of job ads inched up 0.1 percent in August from July, when they dropped by a upwardly revised 0.6 percent.

Job ads in August were 1.9 percent higher than a year earlier, and remained 15.1 perent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

"The ongoing resilience in Job Ads supports our view that the unemployment rate is likely to track broadly sideways," said Madeline Dunk, ANZ economist told Reuters.

Callam Pickering, Indeed senior economist, said job ads in education, which had showed a lackluster presence in overall jobs growth this year has seen a bounce back in August.

"Both retail and food preparation & service opportunities also grew strongly, reflecting early Christmas hiring. Retail hiring will ramp up even further as we approach ‘Black Friday’ sales," said Callam told Reuters.

Know More on How Text-based Ads Survive amid Video Boom

Growth Drivers of Digital Ads: IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report has further revealed that Australian digital advertising expenditure reached $17.2 billion for the financial year ending June 2025, marking a 10.6 percent increase from the previous year. The summer Olympics coverage and election advertising spend led the growth with video formats emerging as the dominant growth engine. Video advertising increased 21.9 percent year-on-year to reach $5.0 billion, now representing 29 percent of total digital advertising expenditure.

More Moolah for Videos: As per the report, June 2025 quarter showed continued momentum with $4.6 billion in total spend, representing a 10.1 percent increase from the corresponding 2024 quarter. Search advertising grew 10.7 percent to $2.059 billion during the quarter, while video increased 25.4 percent to $1.368 billion. Display advertising excluding video showed modest growth of 0.7 percent to $516 million, and audio increased 8.5 percent to $86 million.

Desktop Ads See Significant Increase: Connected television (CTV) investment represented 51 percent of content publishers' video inventory for FY25, down slightly from 55 percent in 2024, reveals the report.

Desktop advertising showed an improvement with its share increasing significantly from 29 percent to 37 percent of content publishers and local broadcasters' video inventory expenditure. Mobile advertising witnessed a decline from 16 percent to 12 percent for FY25, indicating potential shifts in viewing patterns and advertising effectiveness across devices.

Notably, finance sector expenditure increased during the same period, reaching 8.6 percent share of total advertising spend.

Job listings keep online classifieds relevant, even as video and search advertising continue to surge.

Inputs from Saqib Malik

Editing by David Ryder