Overview

The pandemic has transformed the traditional business into online, with many companies forced to accelerate the digitalization of their operations. The frequent lockdowns led to tremendous growth in the digital sector.

The growth in digital ad investment has made it clear that marketers are confident using it as a key growth engine for their businesses across the broad range of available formats and environments.

Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia

Australia is the world’s 14th largest economy and has the world’s 21st-highest income per capita, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). With the growing e-commerce sector and rapid adoption of innovative technology, the digital landscape in the country has offered promising opportunities for marketers. As per Wearesocial data, 18 million out of 25 million country’s population are active social media users.

According to the latest  Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia report, the Australian digital market has topped its highest growth of 24.2% since 2016, reaching $11.4bn online advertising expenditure for 2021 and leading the overall advertising market recovery. Video advertising increased 38.8% to $2.4 billion, while general display increased 29.7% to $4.4 billion, search and directories increased 22.3 percent to $5.1 billion, and classifieds grew to17.4% to $1.9 billion. 

The internet advertising market reached $3.271 billion in June 2021, up 60.5% from the June 2020 quarter.

Here are some top digital trends for Australia that you can’t miss in 2022.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality helps marketers develop strategies that fulfill the information, convenience, and entertainment needs of their target audiences, hence boosting customer experience. 

According to PayPal’s research, Australians are more likely to buy online if they can realistically view how an item would look on them.

Voice Search is very popular in Australia, with approximately 57% of adults using it and 22% of Australia’s entire population having a smart speaker system in their household. With this data in mind, it is no wonder that the voice recognition industry in the country is expected to be worth over US$26 billion by 2025.

Social Media Marketing

Over 80% of Australian internet users access social media sites, with one-third using them five times each day and 79% using them every day. Yellow Social Media Report 2020 by Sensis shows that Australian social media users are more likely to subscribe to brands that communicate favorably with customers on social media, offer relevant content, and update often.

Australia domain names

.au is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Australia with more than 3 million registered .au domain names. There are several second-level domains available for various entities:

• .com.au – Commercial entities
• .net.au – Commercial entities (historically only ISPs, but the use has been broadened)
• .org.au – Associations and non-profit organizations (historically only for organizations that did not fit in other categories)
• .edu.au – Educational institutions (see Third-level domains, below)
• .gov.au – Governments and their departments (see Third-level domains, below)
• .asn.au – Associations and non-profit organizations
• .id.au – Individuals (by real name or common alias)
• .csiro.au – CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation)

The different subdomains have various registration restrictions. What is common is that registrants must have an exact match or a “close and substantial connection” to their intended domain name to register a domain in the.au namespace. On the 12th of April 2021, the Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA) announced new rules for com.au, net.au, org.au, and asn.au namespaces in the .au domain. Changes included eligibility and allocation rules for some namespaces — com.au, net.au, org.au, and asn.au; the terms and conditions for .au domain names; the complaints process; and how auDA manages rule compliance. This raises questions for global brands targeting Australia-based visitors – if you have built a business on a .au domain name and suddenly you no longer have the right to have one, how do you do? Many owners of .eu domain names found themselves in a similar position after Brexit, reminding entrepreneurs of the risks of running a business on a local domain extension.

In August 2021, the Australian Domain Name Administrator (auDA) announced it will release new .au direct namespaces from 24 March 2022 to give individuals and businesses more choice of Australian domain names. In essence, the users will be able to register a direct .au domain without the additional extensions.

I am delighted to announce .au direct will be available from March 2022, providing consumers the opportunity to license shorter, eye-catching names and bringing Australia in line with most other country code top-level domains including the United Kingdom (.uk), Canada (.ca), the USA (.us) and New Zealand (.nz).

Rosemary Sinclair CEO auDA for ZDNet

Namepicks 

Farsiight

Founded in 2017, Farsiight is a marketing agency that specializes in offering PPC, social media marketing, and digital strategy to SaaS, e-commerce, and online marketplace companies. The company has recently expanded its market and worked on social media marketing for a North American e-commerce food recycling company. Farsiight has chosen a domain name that clearly corresponds to their global ambitions and communicates their vision: Farsiight.com.

Frank Digital

Frank Digital is a Sydney-based digital agency founded in 2009. The company offers web design, UX/UI design, web development, and SEO services. Jaywing acquired Frank Digital in February 2018 for $1.8 million. The company operates on a country extension domain name FrankDigital.com.au. The .com doesn’t seem to be resolving.

Uplers

Uplers is a global outsourcing company based in Sydney specializing in web development, SEO, PPC, and digital strategy. The company has a team of 500+ and operates offices in San Diego, Amsterdam, and Ahmedabad, India. As a global brand, Uplershas has chosen a matching global domain: Uplers.com.

Luminary

Luminary has been offering digital services since 1999. The company has a portfolio that includes some of the biggest names in the Australian government, retail, and the corporate sector. Luminary has secured an exact brand match domain name for their brand: Luminary.com.

Highlights

The .com extension was chosen by two hundred and thirty-two companies. Over half of all domain names globally are in the .com extension. .com has been used in advertising campaigns on TV, print, and radio, and billions of dollars have been spent over the past nearly four decades to cement .com as the natural, intuitive choice for accessing a business online.

Most of the companies in our list have chosen to operate on the secondary country extension domains .com.au (seven hundred and sixty-eight) and net.au (fourteen).

The strict eligibility rules behind the country extension domain registration increase the Australian customers’ trust factor making such domain a preferred option for local businesses. 

One hundred and ninety companies have secured exact brand match domain names for their brand presence online. An exact brand match .com name is the natural choice of most internet users, making the company’s marketing most effective across all channels.

Nineteen entries use a dash in their domain. Dashes are often included with two-word brand names or added words when the business has to compromise on their domain if the exact brand match name is taken/not within reach. 

While we make every effort to ensure the data on our site is accurate, complete, and up-to-date, we cannot guarantee its reliability. Our data is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal, financial, or other advice. We strongly recommend that you independently verify any information before relying on it.

How does your brand name match your company vision? What new horizons can a better name open? Get in touch if you feel your brand deserves a better name, we are always happy to help.

australia branding business creative agency digital digital agency domain domain name domains naming