Australian Magazine Readership, 12 months to March 2020

Magazine Print Readership Summary - March 2020

Better Homes & Gardens and Women’s Weekly are again most widely read paid magazines

Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with an average issue print readership up 17.1 per cent to 1,771,000 in the year to March 2020 and is now ahead of the Women’s Weekly with an average issue print readership of 1,337,000.

In addition National Geographic has retained an impressive average issue print readership of 1,1650,000 while Taste.com.au Magazine was up 3.6 per cent to 611,000. Super Food Ideas had the largest average issue print readership increase of the top magazines, up 30.8 per cent to 595,000.

The recently launched New Idea Royals is now Australia’s tenth most widely read paid magazine with a sizeable average issue print readership of 571,000. New titles That’s Life Mega Monthly with a print readership of 405,000 and Women’s Weekly Food read by 314,000 have also had strong starts.

Other magazines to perform strongly and increase their average issue print readership include Marie Claire (+16.3 per cent to 336,000), New Scientist (+1.9 per cent to 320,000) and Horizons (WA) (+4.6 per cent to 295,000).

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 March 2020 of 4,489,000 and Fresh with a readership of 4,015,000.

Bunnings Magazine is the third most widely read free magazine. It has an average issue print readership in the year to March 2020 of 1,170,000 making the hardware retailer’s magazine, launched a year ago, one of only six with an average issue print readership of more than 1 million Australians.

Top 15 Magazines by Print Readership - March 2020

The five most read categories of print magazines

●        Food & Entertainment (6,495,000 Australians, 31.1% of the population);

●        General Interest (4,213,000 Australians, 20.2% of the population);

●        Home & Garden (3,459,000 Australians, 16.5% of the population);

●        Mass Women’s (3,151,000 Australians, 15.1% of the population);

●        Business, Financial & Airline (1,340,000 Australians, 6.4% of the population).

Food & Entertainment magazines boosted by Super Food Ideas and Australian Gourmet Traveller

Food & Entertainment is again Australia's best performing magazine category and is now read by 6,495,000 Australians, or 31.1% of the population – more than 2 million ahead of any other category.

There were three magazines to increase their readership over the last year led by Super Food Ideas, up 30.8 per cent to a readership of 595,000 and Australian Gourmet Traveller up 29.1 per cent to 231,000. Taste.com.au Magazine increased its readership by 3.6 per cent to 611,000.

However, the free supermarket titles remain the clear leaders in the category despite not building on the growth of previous years. Coles Magazine with a readership of 4,489,000 is Australia’s most widely read magazine ahead of second-placed Woolworth’s Fresh now read by 4,015,000 Australians.

The new Women’s Weekly Food has had an impressive start with a readership of 314,000 making the new title the fifth most widely read magazine in the category.

General Interest magazines read by over 1-in-5 Australians led by National Geographic

4,213,000 Australians, or 20.2% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazine titles and National Geographic is again clearly the most widely read magazine in the category and is now read by 1,165,000 – the only General Interest magazine with a readership of more than 1 million.

However RAC’s motoring magazine Horizons (WA) was the star performer over the last year increasing its readership by 4.6 per cent to 295,000 – the only magazine in the category to increase its readership.

Other widely read magazines in the category include Open Road (NSW) read by 864,000, Australian Geographic read by 601,000, Road Ahead (Qld) read by 538,000 and Royal Auto (Vic) read by 520,000.

Home & Garden magazines are the stand out category with a big jump in readership

Home & Garden magazines have significantly grown their audience over the past year up by 23.4 per cent to 3,459,000 Australians – easily the largest jump of any magazine category.

This growth has been powered by the new Bunnings Magazine which launched a year ago and is now read by almost 1.2 million. In addition, there has been strong readership growth for two other leading titles.

The leading magazine in the category is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine Better Homes and Gardens (BH&G), which increased its readership by an impressive 17.1 per cent to 1,771,000 and there was also a significant readership increase of 56.6 per cent to 155,000 for Vogue Living.

Other widely read magazines in the category include House & Garden read by 441,000, Gardening Australia read by 374,000, Home Beautfiul read by 290,000 and Country Style now read by 218,000.

Mass Women’s magazines invigorated by New Idea Royals and That’s Life Mega Monthly

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by 3,151,000 Australians equal to 15.1 per cent of the population with readership in the category boosted by the launch of new magazines over the last year including New Idea Royals and That’s Life Mega Monthly.

New Idea Royals has already attracted an audience of 571,000 to make the new title one of the top ten most widely read paid magazines and That’s Life Mega Monthly has an impressive readership of 405,000.

Women’s Weekly leads the category with a readership 1,337,000, although down 13 per cent from the Royal Wedding boosted high in mid-2018, ahead of Woman’s Day with 842,000 readers.

Newly purchased Bauer title New Idea has a readership of 757,000 while the two Take 5 titles are also widely read. Take 5 Bumper Monthly is now read by 583,000 and Take 5 (Weekly) is read by 475,000.

Business magazine category is fifth most widely read with New Scientist increasing readership

Overall the Business, Financial and Airline magazines readership experienced a decrease of 14.1 per cent over the last year to 1,340,000 (6.4% of the population).

Despite the overall decline, New Scientist magazine increased its readership by 1.9 per cent to 320,000 and is now the most widely read magazine in the cateogry while the politically focused magazine The Monthly held readership steady and was unchanged at 150,000.

Airlines have been amongst the industries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with international travel banned and domestic travel at a minimum. Travel to Australia’s largest market China was banned early in February and it is no surprise to see readership declines for all three airline magazines. Qantas Magazine is the most widely read of the airline magazines with a readership of 302,000.

Fishing magazines both increase readership over the past year

The Fishing magazine category has stood out over the past year with category readership increasing 0.7 per cent to 301,000 and both Fishing magazine titles increasing their readership.

The increase was powered by a 63.5 per cent growth in readership for Fresh Water Fishing Australia to 121,000 and an increase of 12.8 per cent to 229,000 for Fishing World.

Another category to perform relatively well over the last year were the Women’s Fashion magazines which is now the sixth most widely read magazine category with an overall readership of 1,167,000, or 5.6% of the population. Three magazines in this category increased their readership over the past year.

The standout in the category is Elle which increased readership by a massive 39 per cent over the last year to 196,000. Also performing exceptionally well was Harper’s Bazaar which was up 33.1 per cent to 197,000 and Marie Claire up 16.5 per cent 336,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly included Healthy Food Guide up 7.2 per cent to 283,000, Men’s Fitness up by 14.4 per cent to 135,000 and Motor up 0.8 per cent to 120,000.