The market at a glance

• Consistent funnel leader: Bulla holds the top position across all primary metrics throughout the four months, reaching 86% aided awareness, 69% consideration, 55% P6M purchase, and 24% preferred brand by April 2026.
• Peters closing on preferred brand: Peters grew preferred brand from 18% in December 2025 to 21% by April 2026, narrowing the gap with Bulla (24%) to its smallest point in the tracking period.
• Streets notable mid-period dip: Streets recorded a 14-percentage point fall in aided awareness from December 2025 (83%) to February 2026 (69%), the largest single-wave movement of any brand across the four months, with partial recovery to 72% by April.
• Connoisseur declining: Connoisseur recorded consistent declines across all funnel metrics over the four waves, with aided awareness falling from 66% to 57% and preferred brand contracting from 15% to 12%, the most sustained downward trend among major brands.
• Premium niche efficiency: Golden North converts 10% aided awareness into 1% preferred brand in April 2026, an 11% conversion rate from awareness to preferred brand (17% for the first two months and 11% for the second two months) that outperforms several brands with six to seven times its recognition level, including Häagen-Dazs and Weis.

Initial findings from the first four months of 2026

The Australian packaged ice cream, sorbet, and gelato landscape is led by Bulla, which maintained the highest market presence across all tracking metrics throughout the four months. By April 2026, Bulla recorded 86% aided awareness, 69% consideration, 55% P6M purchase, and 24% preferred brand. Peters sits in a consistent second position with 86% awareness, 66% consideration, 49% P6M purchase, and 21% preferred brand in the final wave.

Peters posted the most consistent improvement over the period, growing its preferred brand metric from 18% in December 2025 to 21% by April 2026. At the same time, Bulla’s preferred brand held relatively stable between 24% and 26%, meaning Peters has steadily closed the gap. On P6M purchase, both brands remained among the strongest in the category, with Bulla reaching 55% and Peters 49% in April.

The most notable movement across the tracking period was a sharp decline in Streets’ aided awareness, which fell from 83% in December 2025 to 69% in February 2026 before partially recovering to 72% by April. The brand’s consideration metric followed a similar trajectory, falling from 61% to 52% in February and reaching 51% in April. No other brand with comparable awareness experienced a movement of this magnitude, which may suggest a media or distribution effect concentrated in early 2026.

Connoisseur presents a similar story at the premium mid-tier. The brand recorded a sustained decline across four funnel metrics: aided awareness fell from 66% in December 2025 to 57% in April 2026, consideration dropped from 46% to 39%, P6M purchase from 30% to 24%, and preferred brand from 15% to 12%. This makes Connoisseur the only brand in the tracker to post consistent declines across all funnel stages across all four waves. Ben & Jerry’s followed a comparable pattern, with awareness falling from 74% to 69% and consideration from 40% to 36%, though its preferred brand held more stable between 8% and 9%.

Despite low absolute awareness levels, Golden North presents one of the more striking funnel profiles in the category. With aided awareness of just around 10% across the four waves, it sits well below every other tracked brand on reach. Yet in December 2025 and February 2026, 17% of consumers who recognised the brand nominated it as their preferred, before settling at 11% for the final two waves. This awareness-to-preferred-brand conversion rate outperforms several brands with six to seven times its recognition level, including Häagen-Dazs and Weis across all four waves. The consistency of that loyal core across all four waves points to a consumer base that is small but unusually committed and represents a meaningful competitive asset for a brand with limited national reach.

“Our first four months of tracking in the packaged ice cream, sorbet, and gelato category reveal a market with a highly stable upper tier and meaningful divergence beneath it,” says Yutian Shen, Market Researcher of Conjointly. “Bulla and Peters are both strong at the top of the funnel and converting well to preferred brand status. But the sustained decline for Connoisseur and Streets in various waves, set against the conversion efficiency of niche players like Golden North, suggests the mid-market faces genuine pressure from both sides.”

The findings are based on a syndicated study of 5,425 Australian adults, with 3,724 respondents qualifying as purchasers of packaged ice cream, sorbet, or gelato in the past six months. Qualifying sample sizes across the four waves were 975 (December 2025), 846 (February 2026), 912 (March 2026), and 991 (April 2026). Participants were recruited via Conjointly’s panel network and compensated for their time, with the sample weighted to national demographics to ensure findings are market-representative.

Explore the Australian packaged ice cream data at https://brandtracker.conjointly.com/australia/packaged-ice-cream-sorbet-or-gelato/.

About Brand Tracker by Conjointly

Brand Tracker delivers automated brand performance reporting with rigorous, market-representative insights. Australian businesses across industries can now access statistically weighted brand funnel data, including awareness, consideration, purchase intent, and preference.

“We built Brand Tracker because traditional brand tracking locked businesses into expensive, inflexible contracts and delivered snapshots long after market conditions shifted,” said Nik Samoylov, Founder of Conjointly. “Brand Tracker gives Australian businesses the easy-to-use and easy-to-digest analytics they need to know their brand positioning, brand awareness and more, without requiring a six-figure commitment.”

Brand Tracker currently offers Australian businesses free access to detailed public brand data across six industries. For monitoring of your own brand with advanced analytics and real-time dashboards, Priority Access starts from the industry-breaking price of $6,000 per year – a fraction of traditional agency costs. Custom tracking solutions are also available for businesses with specific needs.

About Conjointly

Conjointly started as a simple online tool for conjoint analysis in 2016 and has since evolved into an industry-leading market research platform. Conjointly holds ISO 20252:2019 (Sampling), ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27701:2019, and SOC 2 Type II certifications, and is a member of the Insights Association and the British Healthcare Business Intelligence Association.

Conjointly’s tools address the most common pricing and product research problems and are supplemented with expert support and guidance from experienced researchers. With thousands of projects performed on the platform, Conjointly is the go-to research place for hundreds of clients.