Over 11 million Australians aged 14+ (52.4%) now read print magazines, an increase of 1.4% from a year ago, according to the results released from the Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to December 2021.
This market broadens to 15 million Australians aged 14+ (70.8%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, a small drop of 3.9% from a year ago.
These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 65,093 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to December 2021.
Print readership: Key categories climb
Print readership increased in the top three magazine categories: Food and Entertainment, General Interest and Home & Garden Magazines
The overall magazine industry figures are up compared to a year ago and of the 17 categories measured over the last two years almost two-thirds (11 magazine categories) are up and only 6 are down.
The print readership of the three most widely read magazine categories increased significantly from a year ago. Food & Entertainment increased 7.2% to over 7.1 million, General Interest was up 6.8% to over 4 million and Home & Garden increased by 7.9 per cent to over 3.7 million.
There were also increases in readership for the magazine categories covering Health & Family, Motoring, TV, Sports, Music & Movies, Fishing, Motorcyles and Crafts.
See also: Total News readership increases in all states, reaches 97% of adult population
Most read magazines
Over 80% of the top 25 magazines increased their print readership over the past year with Better Homes & Gardens and The Australian Women’s Weekly again the most widely read paid magazines
A large majority of over 80% of Australia’s top 25 most widely read magazines (21 out of 25) experienced a growth in their print readership during 2021 compared to a year earlier.
Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine up 2.7% to 1,6211,000 ahead of The Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 1,291,000, an increase of 0.2 per cent on a year ago.
In addition, National Geographic has retained a print readership of 920,000, up 6.6% on a year ago to be Australia’s third most widely read paid magazine ahead of Taste.com.au Magazine up 48.4% to 794,000 and Woman’s Day with a readership of 733,000, an increase of 1.5 per cent.
Coles magazine & Fresh Ideas most widely read
Australia’s two most widely read free magazines are Coles magazine with a readership of 4,997,000, an increase of 6.6% from a year ago and Fresh Ideas with a readership of 4,643,000, up 10.7%.
Bunnings magazine is the third most widely read free magazine and its increase in readership has been associated with the boom in home improvement and renovations due to the Covid-19 pandemic curtailing other spending, such as travel spending, with readership increasing by 5.4% to 1,499,000.
Of the top 25 magazines (those with a readership of at least 285,000) there were 10 to have increases in readership of over 10% compared to a year ago led by Taste.com.au Magazine and House & Garden – which grew its readership by 29.8% to 632,000 to be the sixth most widely read paid magazine.
Two motoring magazines increased their readership significantly during 2021 led by the RACQ’s Road Ahead (Qld), up 29% to 668,000, the NRMA’s magazine Open Road (NSW) which increased its readership by 28.6% to 1,169,000 and RAC’s Horizons (WA).up 18.4% to 289,000.
Readers turn on TV titles
Other leading magazines to perform strongly include Take 5 Bumper Monthly (+14.2% to 562,000), Home Beautiful (+30.2% to 349,000), TV Week (+10.1% to 348,000) and Foxtel Magazine (+50% to 318,000).
The five most read categories of print magazines
• Food & Entertainment (7,120,000 Australians, 33.7% of the population);
• General Interest (4,082,000 Australians, 19.3% of the population);
• Home & Garden (3,745,000 Australians, 17.7% of the population);
• Mass Women’s (2,991,000 Australians, 14.2% of the population);
• Health & Family (1,051,000 Australians, 5.0% of the population).
Food & Entertainment magazines #1 with total readership 7m+
Food & Entertainment is again Australia’s best-performing magazine category and is now read by 7,120,000 Australians, or 33.7% of the population, an increase of 476,000 (up 7.2%) on a year ago and more than 3 million ahead of any other category.
The free supermarket titles remain the clear leaders in the category led by Coles magazine with a readership of 4,997,000, an increase of 309,000 (up 6.6%) on a year ago ahead of the second-placed Woolworth’s Fresh Ideas now read by 4,643,000 Australians, up 450,000 (up 10.7%).
Taste.com.au magazine significantly increased its readership from a year ago, up by 48.4% to a readership of 794,000 while Eat Well, a new magazine that launched just over a year ago in December 2020, more than quintupled its initial readership result and was, up 483.3% to 140,000.
Other titles to increase their readership include Gourmet Traveller Wine up 15.9% to a readership of 80,000 and Halliday was up 28% to a readership of 37,000.
General Interest magazine readership up 130,000 to 4m+
4,082,000 Australians, or 19.3% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazines. Of the 15 magazines in the category, 12 increased their readership from a year ago while only one decreased and there were two new titles: Escape Magazine and T Australia: The New York Times Style Magazine.
National Geographic was easily the most widely read paid magazine in the category with a readership of 920,000, up 6.6 per cent on a year ago ahead of the second-placed Australian Geographic with a readership of 486,000 following an increase of 2.7 per cent.
Several magazines recorded large increases in readership in the category led by Cosmos, up 124% to 112,000, Vacations & Travel, up 63.3% to 129,000, Australian Traveller which increased 42.4% to 141,000 and RM Williams Outback which increased by 41.1% to 271,000.
Home & Garden magazines read by over 3.7 million Australians
House & Garden grew by 29.8% to 632,000, Gardening Australia up 3.1% to 468,000, Home Beautiful up 30.2% to 349,000 and Vogue Living up a 7.7% to 224,000.
Also growing over the last year were Grand Designs Australia, up 12.3% to 146,000, Belle, up 6.6% to 130,000, Inside Out, up 24.4% to 112,000, Home Design, up 15.2% to 106,000 and Kitchens & Bathrooms up 5% to 84,000.
Women’s Health best in the Health & Family category
Overall the Health & Family magazines increased by 17% to 1,051,000 (5.0% of the population).
All five of the continuing magazines in the category experienced an increase over the last year led by Women’s Health, up 16.8% to a category-leading readership of 230,000.
There were other large increases for Healthy Food Guide, up 13.3% to 205,000, Diabetic Living, up 23.1% to 176,000 and Wellbeing up 11.4% to 127,000. Readership of Prevention increased 6.1% to 70,000.
There was one new magazine in the category, Wellbeing Wild, that achieved a readership of 53,000.
Motoring and Sports magazines improve
There was growth in several smaller magazine categories with the Motoring, TV, Sports, Fishing and Motorcycle magazine categories all increasing their readership in the 12 months to December 2021.
Motoring magazines are the seventh most widely read magazine category and experienced growth of 22.2 per cent over the past year for an overall readership of 871,000, or 4.1% of the population with all six magazines in the category increasing their readership over the past year.
The magazines to increase their readership included Street Machine, up 44.3% to 280,000, 4×4 Australia, up 36.9% to 278,000, Just Cars, up 45% to 219,000, Wheels magazine, up 8.8% to 210,000, Unique Cars, up 37.5% to 187,000 and Motor, up 31.7% to 137,000.
Sports magazines also had a good year and almost doubled category readership, up by 88.2% on a year ago to 493,000 on the back of strong performances from two golfing magazines. Readership of both golf magazines more than doubled with readership of Golf Australia up 128% to 171,000 and Australian Golf Digest up 119% to a readership of 173,000.
Notably, and despite a heavily disrupted season during 2021, the AFL Record is still the most widely read magazine in the category with a readership of 187,000.
Rolling Stone rocks readership
Other magazines to perform strongly included Fishing World, up 14.5% to 166,000, Fresh Water Fishing Australia, up 6% to 88,000, Rolling Stone up 44.7% to 191,000, Australian Motorcycle News, up 20% to 102,000, Vogue Australia, up 1.8% to 337,000, Men’s Health up 61.3% to 258,000, Play Australia Magazine up 67.3% to 164,000 and PC PowerPlay up 28.6% to 81,000.
Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ read by almost 1.7m
The results for the 12 months to December 2021 for Magazine Publishers were impressive with the 4-week digital platform audience data showing Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ website attracting an audience of almost 1.7 million Australians in an average 4-week period.
Many of Are Media’s magazine brands (including The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, Take 5 and TV Week) have consolidated their online presence on the ‘Now to Love’ platform which adds incremental reach to already strong print based publications, including Woman’s Day and The Australian Women’s Weekly which both reach cross-platform audiences of almost 3 million readers in an average 4 week period.
Several other magazines with large cross-platform audiences include News Corp’s Taste.com.au magazine with a total audience of over 3.4 million, Are Media’s TV Week, New Idea and Take 5 (weekly) with around 2.3 million and Better Home & Gardens with 2.2 million readers in an average 4 weeks in the 12 months to December 2021.
4 Week Magazine Cross-Platform Audience
Cross-Platform Audience is the number of Australians who have read or accessed magazine content via print, web, app or Apple News (12 months to December 2021).
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.
Total cross-platform audience includes print – average issue readership and digital – website visitation and app usage in an average 4 weeks, except for weekly titles which are in an average 7 days (denoted by *). #For additional detail on the platforms available for each magazine visit the Roy Morgan website.
Roy Morgan Readership 12 months to December 2021 Additional Analysis
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