The latest Roy Morgan data relating to readership of news publishing shows:
• Total News Publishing readership has grown to 21.7m Australians aged 14+ each month.
• News consumers diversity of sources: 64% reading three or more content categories each month and nine in 10 accessing up to four different titles.
• Despite a cost-of-living crisis, less than 1% of news readers stopped paying for access in the last quarter.
• Total News Publishing audience valuable: High-net-worth Australians are 28% more likely to read the news and paying news readers 25% more likely to be big spenders.
All the data covers the 12 months to June 2024.
News readership has grown close to 22m Australians.
Readership figures from Roy Morgan show news now reaches 21.7m Australians aged 14+ each month, with strong readership across every profile group. That is an increase of 1m year-on-year.
See also: Total News readership to June 2023 – 96% of Australians engage monthly, 16.6m weekly
Think News Brands has pointed out the huge audience numbers demonstrate that advertisers can practically target any audience they wish via Total News Publishing.
Readers want multiple news titles and categories
The Roy Morgan data shows the depth and breadth of engagement Australians are having with news, with 67m interactions per week. 91% read up to four titles every month and while General News remains the most read category at 93% of the population there is high readership across other categories. The data also shows 64% engage with at least three categories in any given month.
Readers paying for news remains steady
The Roy Morgan data also reveals that despite a cost-of-living crisis, less than 1% of news readers stopped paying for access in the last quarter. By comparison, according to National Australia Bank data, 37% of Australians cut back on a streaming service in the March quarter and 33% on subscriptions for magazines, apps and other goods and products.
News publishing audiences ready to buy
High net worth Australians ($1m+ in total savings and/or investments) are 28% more likely to read the news than the average Australian. It also shows that paying news readers are 24% more likely than the general population to be homeowners, more likely to experiment with new products and services, and 25% more likely to be big spenders. This data signifies the high ROI qualities of news reader audiences.
Readers engage with the news
“Yet again the Roy Morgan data shows just how vast the reach of Total News Publishing really is proving that advertisers can use it to access any audience they’re after,” said Vanessa Lyons, chief executive officer of Think News Brands.
“Audiences aren’t scrolling past news; they’re accessing multiple news brands and content categories every month with repeated interactions. ‘News readers’ is the highly engaged, attentive audience advertisers are looking for.
“Continuing to seek out news in a cost-of-living crisis really proves the importance Australians place on it. It also signifies the habitual relationship readers have with news and the reliable, regular, deeply engaged audiences it can provide advertisers.
“At a time when ROI has never been more important, the data shows news delivers the prosperous and ready-to-buy audiences that can make marketing campaigns a success.”
Source: Total News Publishing as measured by Roy Morgan Single Source, which is Australia’s largest consumer survey representative of Australians aged 14+. All audience data is based on monthly readership averaged over the 12 months to June 2024, unless otherwise stated. Total News Publishing is defined as Australians aged 14+ reading news in print and/or news in digital. Digital news includes Australian publishers’ news websites/apps, Apple News, and non-Australian-owned news. It also includes ABC News and Google News. Total News Publishing audience measurement is independently audited by Milton Data.
News publishers comment
Nine Publishing: The AFR
The Australian Financial Review is the country’s most read premium business masthead recording a cross platform readership of 3.5 million people, according to Total News Publishing readership figures released by Roy Morgan.
The premium business masthead has experienced four consecutive quarters of growth across its Total News Publishing audience, with 985,000 people reading a print edition of the Financial Review in the past four weeks.
New editor-in-chief James Chessell said: “These results reflect the high quality and award-winning journalism in The Australian Financial Review. With our focus on growing our subscriber base, our digital strategy continues to gain strength as is evidenced by nearly 80% of our audience engaging with our sites.”
Nine Publishing: The Age
The Age has once again maintained its lead against its main competitor nationally, with a multi-platform readership of 4.63 million, according to Total News Publishing figures released by Roy Morgan.
The Age has cemented its place as the nation’s second most read multi-platform news brand after The Sydney Morning Herald and is ahead of its main competitor The Herald Sun by 650,000 readers.
The Monday to Friday print edition recorded a readership of 240,000, while the Saturday edition has 389,000 print readers. In the last four weeks 990,000 people on average have read a print edition of The Age and in total, one in five Australians get their news from The Age.
“The Age is unquestionably Victoria’s premier news brand. In a year in which The Age celebrates its 170th birthday, it has exposed the corruption at the heart of the CFMEU and the union’s unseemly ties to state and federal Labor,” said new executive editor Luke McIlveen.
Nine Publishing: The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald has once again cemented its position as Australia’s most read multi-platform news brand, with a readership of 7.2 million, according to the Total News Publishing figures released by Roy Morgan.
With one in three Australian readers choosing the Herald to stay informed, the masthead dominates the multi-platform news brand landscape and nearly doubles The Daily Telegraph readership (7.18 million versus The Telegraph’s 3.94 million) in the latest figures in the 12-month period ending June 2024.
The Monday to Friday print edition recorded an average issue readership of 381,000, while Saturday’s print edition recorded 477,000 readers. In the last four weeks, 1.47 million people on average have read a print edition of the Herald, while The Sun Herald print edition is read by 395,000 people every Sunday.
“The Sydney Morning Herald’s dominance over our rivals is testament to the unique bond between our skilled journalists and our audience. Our readers trust us to write the truth – sometimes at great personal risk to our journalists and their sources – and we try to live up to that expectation every day,” said new executive editor Luke McIlveen.