Roy Morgan Research
September 10, 2020

Roy Morgan releases the latest Enhanced Cross-Platform Audience results for Newspapers & Magazines

Topic: Press Release, Readership Surveys
Finding No: 8504
RMR Logo

Roy Morgan today releases its latest cross-platform audience results for Australian newspapers and magazines for the period January – June 2020.

In the 6 months to June this year an estimated 18.5 million (88%) Australians aged 14+ read or accessed newspapers or newspaper content in some way – print editions, online via website, app or news platforms including (metropolitan, local and regional titles) in an average four weeks. This includes an estimated 16.1 million (77%) reading or accessing metropolitan titles. Some 15.7 million (74%) Australians aged 14+ read or accessed a magazine or magazine content. 

The enhanced 4 week cross-platform audience data measures both Newspaper and Magazine masthead reach across print and digital content by masthead for each Publisher.

These latest findings from Roy Morgan Single Source are available to Publishers, Media Agencies and Brand Advertisers on an on-going basis.


Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s top masthead – read by almost 8.3 million Australians

This enhanced 4 week cross-platform audience data now shows the standout performers for Newspapers are the Nine Entertainment owned Sydney Morning Herald with a cross-platform audience of almost 8.3 million and its Melbourne stablemate The Age with a cross-platform audience of over 5.6 million Australians in an average 4 week period in the six months to June.

News Corp’s Daily Telegraph is in third place with a cross-platform audience of 4.85 million in front national broadsheet The Australian and its Melbourne counterpart the Herald Sun which both have a cross-platform audiences of around 4.3 million Australians.

A look at the discrete quarterly figures for Australia’s leading mastheads shows strong growth for leading titles in the June quarter compared to the March quarter as people sought out trusted news sources to learn more about COVID-19 and the restrictions being introduced by Australian Governments both State and Federal.

The mastheads that experienced the strongest growth in the June quarter included The Australian, Australian Financial Review, Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the West Australian/Sunday Times in Perth which all grew their enhanced 4 week cross-platform audiences by more than 400,000.

These new ‘digital first’ Enhanced Cross-Platform Audience results are drawn from Roy Morgan Single Source comprising personal interviews with a representative sample of 28,112 Australians aged 14+ in their own homes and machine based data collected in the six months to June 2020.


Bauer Media’s ‘Now to Love’ online magazine destination is read by over 2.6 million Australians

The results for the six months to June 2020 for Magazine Publishers are equally impressive with the enhanced 4 week cross-platform audience data showing the Bauer Media owned ‘Now to Love’ website attracts an audience of 2.6 million Australians in an average 4 week period. Bauer Media’s ‘Now to Love’ website allows magazine publishers to reach their audience in new ways with innovative online offerings.

Many of Bauer Media’s magazine brands (including Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, TV Week and Take 5) have consolidated their online presence in the ‘Now to Love’ website which is adding incremental reach to already strong print based publications including Woman’s Day, estimated to reach more than 1.4 million readers in an average 4 week period, and stablemate Australian Women’s Weekly with an estimated 4 week print reach approaching 1.1 million readers.

There are several other magazines with large cross-platform audiences including News Corp’s Taste.com.au Magazine with a total audience of over 3.2 million, Bauer Media’s New Idea with over 2.4 million and Better Home & Gardens with over 1.9 million readers in an average 4 weeks in the six months to June 2020.


Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan says the 4 week cross-platform audience data released today shows newspapers and magazines are reaching huge audiences of millions of Australians that aren’t attached to traditional media channels:

“Roy Morgan’s ‘digital first’ view of the media landscape highlights that millions of Australians are accessing Newspaper and Magazine mastheads via their online channels.

“The new 4 week cross-platform audience results shows millions of Australians are accessing their trusted media brands through digital channels. An estimated 18.5 million Australians aged 14+ (88%) read or accessed newspapers including metropolitan, regional and community titles in an average four weeks in the six months to June 2020.

“The metropolitan newspapers have a combined audience of 16.1 million Australians aged 14+ (77%) and Australia’s most widely read masthead the Sydney Morning Herald is read by almost 8.3 million in an average four weeks – equal to nearly 40% of Australia’s population. 

“The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during March and April proved to be a boon for Australia’s leading newspaper mastheads with many substantially increasing their enhanced cross-platform audiences in the June quarter as Australians flocked to trusted news sources to keep up-to-date in a fast changing environment.

“The biggest winner during the June quarter was national broadsheet West Australian/Sunday Times which lifted its enhanced cross-platform audience by over 700,000 from the March quarter. Closely behind were the The Australian, Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Daily Telegraph.

“In the magazine realm over 2.6 million Australians now visit the ‘Now to Love’ online ‘destination’ which provides a significant boost for popular Bauer Media titles such as Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly and the Take 5 weekly and monthly titles.

“The comprehensive 4 week cross-platform audience results create a range of new opportunities for participating Publishers and of course Brand Advertisers. Advertisers and their Media Agencies can now use these latest metrics to better plan campaigns and profile these larger audiences.”

4 Week Newspaper Cross-Platform Audience (January to June 2020)

Cross-Platform Audience is the number of Australians who have read or accessed individual newspaper content via print, web, app or Apple New (and includes Monday – Friday and the weekend editions on Saturday and Sunday).

In line with traditional digital measures all results are 4 week estimates rather than print currency ‘average issue readership’ (AIR). The print currency ‘AIR’ readership estimates for newspapers are available to view in detail on the Roy Morgan website here.

 Print
(4 weeks)
Digital
(4 weeks)
(incl. Apple News)
Total CPA
(4 weeks)
(incl. Apple News)
PublicationJan-June 2020
(000's)
Jan-June 2020
(000's)
Jan-June 2020
(000's)
Adelaide Advertiser8151,3261,794
Canberra Times3009811,211
Courier-Mail1,3241,9252,842
Daily Telegraph2,1643,4434,850
Financial Review1,1172,4013,209
Herald Sun2,3962,7224,300
Mercury171333459
Newcastle Herald205265411
Sunday Times4841,5431,864
Sydney Morning Herald1,9357,5788,259
The Age1,6244,9065,601
The Australian2,4772,4454,323
The Saturday Paper397347731
West Australian1,0756791,411

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine notes the COVID-19 pandemic has given new prominence to Australia’s leading news providers including News Corp and the ABC:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important reliable sources of news are for consumers needing to keep up to date with the latest Government directives as Australia deals with the virus.

“Australians have turned to news providers in unprecedented numbers during the pandemic with News Corp a top choice for millions of Australians. In the six months to June 2020 News Corp has five mastheads with 4 week cross-platform audiences in an average four weeks of over 1 million.

“The leading News Corp mastheads include the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier-Mail, Adelaide Advertiser and the national broadsheet The Australian which during the six months to June 2020 was read by over 4.3 million in an average four weeks.

“The importance of digital channels is illustrated by the wide reach of News Corp’s leading platform news.com.au which Roy Morgan estimates was visited by over 10.6 million Australians during the six months to June 2020 covering the summer bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.”

4 Week Magazine Cross-Platform Audience (January to June 2020)Cross-Platform Audience is the number of Australians who have read or accessed magazine content via print, web, app or Apple News.

In line with traditional digital measures all results are 4 week estimates rather than print currency ‘average issue readership’ (AIR). The print currency ‘AIR’ readership estimates for magazines are available to view in detail on the Roy Morgan website here.

Print
(4 weeks)
Digital
(4 weeks)
(incl. Apple News from Nov19)
Total CPA
(4 weeks)
(incl. Apple News from Nov19)
PublicationJan-June 2020
(000's)
Jan-June 2020
(000's)
Jan-June 2020
(000's)
(unweighted)28,11228,11228,112
(Popn '000)21,04121,04121,041
4X4 Australia1608651,010
Australian Geographic492305772
Australian Gourmet Traveller124360469
Australian Women's Weekly1,0662,6203,460
Belle104479583
Better Homes & Gardens1,4915261,932
Country Style192479665
Empire402,6122,646
Frankie25382319
Healthy Food Guide205160364
Home Beautiful226190412
House & Garden365479837
Inside Out87479566
Marie Claire246241480
Motor88872942
National Geographic8039211,689
New Idea1,2351,3022,403
Open Road83798894
Reader's Digest392287669
Real Living70479549
Royal Auto566198726
Street Machine1858751,021
Take 5 (weekly)7342,6123,180
Take 5 Bumper Monthly4682,6122,951
Taste.com.au Magazine5262,8353,205
The Monthly120225313
Time Magazine4156371,037
TV Week4832,6123,045
Unique Cars113165269
Vogue289310550
Wheels151862973
Who3877251,108
Woman's Day1,4082,6423,765
Women's Weekly Food247581811

Note 4 Week audience is 4 week readership for 7 day titles, Average Issue Readership is used for monthly &  quarterly titles.


For the record – Roy Morgan Print Readership Results

Roy Morgan provides the industry currency in readership figures and is the most influential survey on newspaper and magazine readership in Australia. 

The readership estimates below are ‘average issue readership’ (AIR) over a 12 month period, and represent the number, or %, of Australians who read or look into an average issue of the particular publication.

This provides an estimate of the ‘reach’ an advertiser can expect to achieve with advertising placed in the publication.

These print readership estimates do not include the additional Australians who read the publications in their digital form online, via web, mobile or app.

The total reach – ‘cross-platform’ reach - is greater than the ‘average issue reach’ of a publication as it includes additional readers and covers a 4 week period, rather than an average issue.


Better Homes & Gardens leads growth in print magazine readership – up 3.2%

Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with an average issue print readership up 3.2 per cent to 1,622,000 in the year to June 2020 followed by the Australian Women’s Weekly with an average issue print readership of 1,243,000.

In addition National Geographic has retained an impressive average issue print readership of 982,000 followed by Woman’s Day on 773,000 and Bauer Media’s New Idea on 689,000 while That’s Life Mega Monthly was up 8.4 per cent to 414,000.

The recently launched New Idea Royals is again Australia’s tenth most widely read paid magazine with a sizeable average issue print readership of 494,000. Other magazines to perform strongly and increase their average issue print readership include Horizons (WA) (+7.5 per cent to 285,000) and Healthy Food Guide (+1.1 per cent to 265,000).

Coles Magazine & Fresh most widely read and Bunnings Magazine read by almost 1.2m

Australia's two most widely read free magazines are again Coles Magazine with an average issue print readership in the year to June 2020 of 4,535,000 and Fresh with a readership of 3,994,000.Bunnings Magazine is the third most widely read free magazine. It has an average issue print readership in the year to June 2020 of 1,161,000 making the hardware retailer’s magazine, launched early in 2019, one of only five with an average issue print readership of more than 1 million Australians.

The five most read categories of magazines by average issue print readership

  • Food & Entertainment (6,437,000 Australians, 30.7% of the population);
  • General Interest (3,887,000 Australians, 18.5% of the population);
  • Home & Garden (3,292,000 Australians, 15.7% of the population);
  • Mass Women’s (2,955,000 Australians, 14.1% of the population);
  • Business, Financial & Airline (1,160,000 Australians, 5.5% of the population).

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated societal lockdowns enforced around the country since March have provided traditional publishers with an unforeseen challenge during 2020 but millions of Australians are still reading print magazines:

“During the COVID-19 related lockdowns around Australia digital channels such as Bauer Media’s ‘Now to Love’ online destination have become more important than ever as a place consumers can go to find their favourite content. The ‘Now to Love’ destination integrates several leading titles under one easy to remember banner and has attracted an average four week audience of over 2.6 million Australians in the 6 months to June.

“However, despite the closure of non-essential businesses during the lockdowns around Australia there are five magazines with sizeable average issue print readerships of over 1 million Australians – and over a dozen with average issue print readerships of over 500,000.

“Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with an average issue print readership in the year to June 2020 of over 1.6 million – up 3.2 per cent on a year ago. Australian Women’s Weekly with an average issue print readership of 1.24 million and the National Geographic read by over 980,000 also retain strong print followings.

“There have also been increases in average issue print readership over the last year for That’s Life Mega Monthly up 8.4 per cent to 414,000, Horizons (WA) up 7.5 per cent to 285,000 and Healthy Food Guide up 1.1 per cent to 265,000.”

Visit the Roy Morgan website for further details on Roy Morgan’s latest average issue print readership figures for Magazines:

Roy Morgan’s latest 7 day print readership figures for Newspapers:

http://www.roymorgan.com/industries/media/readership/newspaper-readershipFor comments or more information please contact:
Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
askroymorgan@roymorgan.com

Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size Percentage Estimate
40% – 60% 25% or 75% 10% or 90% 5% or 95%
1,000 ±3.0 ±2.7 ±1.9 ±1.3
5,000 ±1.4 ±1.2 ±0.8 ±0.6
7,500 ±1.1 ±1.0 ±0.7 ±0.5
10,000 ±1.0 ±0.9 ±0.6 ±0.4
20,000 ±0.7 ±0.6 ±0.4 ±0.3
50,000 ±0.4 ±0.4 ±0.3 ±0.2

Related Findings

Back to topBack To Top Arrow