Report: Australians on Facebook 'like' TV and retail

It seems Australians are in love with giant bananas, television, food and shopping when it comes to Facebook, with the Bananas in Pyjamas Facebook page reigning in an impressive 2,032,296 fans during February 2013.

This number is almost double that of the second favourite Australian Facebook Page, Bubble O'Bill Ice Creams, which showed off a fan base of 1,272,089. Pringles Australia was just slightly behind with 1,259,733 fans, according to the latest Australian Facebook Performance report.

Home and Away was the second television show to enter the list, coming in fourth place overall, and was one of the most talked about fan pages in February. MasterChef Australia followed as the next most popular television show, coming in at fifth place. 

When it came to clothing brands Lorna Jane, Bonds, JayJays, Supre and Cotton On all represented in the top 30 list, while Simple skincare was the only beauty brand to make the list. 

Despite Alcohol - Beer, Wine and Cider representing one of the least popular industries on Facebook, [yellow tail] came in at 11th place in terms of fans, accounting for 719,826 fans out of the industry total of 1,097,918.

The report, which was released recently by digital agency The Online Circle, looks at how consumers and brands use Facebook across the country, analysing data collected during January and February 2013.

Top industries on Facebook

In Australia, television is the top rated industry on Facebook, pulling in more than 9 million fans in total. This is approximately 4 million more than the nearest rival, Retail - Fashion, which had 5.5 million fans when the report was conducted.

In third place was the FMCG snackfoods industry with 4.8 million fans, followed by FMCG beverages with 3.9 million fans and Quick Serve Restaurants with 3.6 million. 

Unfortunately, Banks & Financial Institutions ranked last with just 534,778 fans. Universities also ranked poorly with 830,305 fans and Telecommunications was just a step above with 918, 489 fans.

Most engaged industries on Facebook

While radio may not have reeled in the most fans, the industry definitely displayed high engagement rates (15.6%) during February 2013. This number was only topped by the FMCG beverages industry, who had engagement rates of 36%. 

Similarly, despite low fans in the Telecommunications and Alcohol - Beer, Wine & Cider industries, engagement levels were quite high at 8% and 7.2% respectively. 

In contrast, television had the most fans but one of the lowest engagement rates at 6.9%, perhaps a representation of the typically quieter summer TV months when regular shows are on hiatus. 

Most other categories fell between 1% and 7% engagement rates. 

List breakdown - Top brands by fans

Airline: Qantas (293,698 fans)

Alcohol - Beer, Wine & Cider: Rekorderlig Cider - Australia (216,966 fans)

Alcohol - Spirits: Wild Turkey Australia (208,936 fans)

Automotive - Manufacturers: Holden (339,360 fans)

Banks & Financial Institutions: Commonwealth Bank (285,608 fans)

Department & Online Stores: CatchOfTheDay.com.au (404,269 fans)

Electronics: Kogan (385,551 fans)

FMCG - Beverages: Coca-Cola Australia (882,306 fans)

FMCG - Snackfoods: Pringles Australia (1,259,733 fans)

Health & Beauty: Simple Skincare (574,671 fans)

News & Magazines: Better Homes and Gardens (753,950 fans)

Quick Serve Restaurants: Domino's Pizza - Australia (797,320 fans)

Radio: triple j (571,487 fans)

Retail - Fashion: BONDS (791,220 fans)

Retail - Grocery: Woolworths Australia's Fresh Food People (434,782 fans)

Sporting Clubs: Brisbane Broncos (262,458 fans)

Telecommunications: Telstra 24x7 (257,824 fans)

TV - Channels & Networks: [V] Music - Channel [V] Australia (774,523 fans)

TV - Programs: Bananas in Pyjamas (2,032,296 fans)

Universities: UNSW (The University of New South Wales) (190,898 fans)

[Image credit: west.m]