Over 3.1 million New Zealanders read newspapers
Roy Morgan readership results for New Zealand’s print newspapers and magazines in 2018.
Over 3.1 million, or 79.2%, of New Zealanders aged 14+ now read or access newspapers in an average 7 day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition a total of 2.2 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (56.1%) read magazines whether in print or online either via the web or an app.
These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source survey of 6,385 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to December 2018.
Majority of New Zealand’s leading newspapers increase their cross-platform audience
New Zealand’s most widely read publication, the New Zealand Herald, consolidated its overall readership with a total cross-platform audience of 1,852,000 in the 12 months to December 2018, up 39,000 on a year ago.
The New Zealand Herald, based in New Zealand's largest city of Auckland, has a readership more than three times as large as Wellington's Dominion Post on 486,000, The Press with 351,000 readers and national weekly The Sunday Star Times with 328,000 readers.
Although the Herald has maintained a clear pole position amongst New Zealand's newspapers its cross-platform audience growth of 2.2% over the past year was outpaced by the Waikato Times (+24.1%), the Otago Daily Times (+3.8%), Bay of Plenty Times (+12.9%), Hawke’s Bay Today (+25.7%) and the Northern Advocate (+8.9%).
Top 10 Newspapers – Total Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)
| Publication | Digital (web or app) |
Total Cross-Platform Audience* (print, web or app) |
|||||
| Dec 2017 |
Dec 2018 |
Dec 2017 |
Dec 2018 |
Dec 2017 |
Dec 2018 |
% Change | |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| New Zealand Herald | 800 | 818 | 1,474 | 1,494 | 1,813 | 1,852 | 2.2% |
| Dominion Post | 322 | 286 | 261 | 301 | 502 | 486 | -3.2% |
| The Press | 286 | 252 | 172 | 186 | 374 | 351 | -6.1% |
| Sunday Star Times | 340 | 279 | 81 | 68 | 405 | 328 | -19.0% |
| Waikato Times | 104 | 144 | 112 | 128 | 191 | 237 | 24.1% |
| Otago Daily Times | 139 | 142 | 109 | 128 | 208 | 216 | 3.8% |
| Bay of Plenty Times | 91 | 92 | 91 | 119 | 155 | 175 | 12.9% |
| Hawke’s Bay Today | 78 | 89 | 39 | 72 | 109 | 137 | 25.7% |
| Northern Advocate | 70 | 86 | 69 | 78 | 124 | 135 | 8.9% |
| Taranaki Daily News | 66 | 56 | 67 | 84 | 114 | 113 | -0.9% |
*Cross-Platform Audience is the number of New Zealanders who have read or accessed individual newspaper content via print or online. Print is net readership in an average 7 days. Online is net readership online in an average 7 days.
New Zealand Listener and National Business Review grow cross-platform* audience
New Zealand’s most widely read magazine remains driving magazine AA Directions - now with an average issue readership of 472,000 New Zealanders ahead of New Zealand Woman’s Day on a readership of 288,000 and New Zealand Listener on 241,000.
However, the stand-out improver over the last 12 months was real estate magazine Property Press which grew its readership by 7,000 to 121,000 and became one of New Zealand’s top ten most widely read magazines for the first time.
Other magazines to enjoy a wide level of readership in New Zealand include Australian Women’s Weekly with a readership of 220,000, the TV Guide with a readership of 204,000, New Zealand House & Garden and New Zealand Woman’s Weekly both with a readership of 140,000.
New Zealand’s Top 15 Magazines by Average Issue Print Readership
| Publication | Dec 2017 | Dec 2018 | % Reach Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| AA Directions | 565 | 472 | -2.7% |
| NZ Woman’s Day* | 353 | 288 | -1.9% |
| New Zealand Listener* | 246 | 241 | -0.3% |
| Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) |
249 | 220 | -0.8% |
| TV Guide | 251 | 204 | -1.3% |
| NZ House & Garden* | 148 | 140 | -0.2% |
| NZ Woman’s Weekly* | 198 | 140 | -1.5% |
| SkyWatch | 185 | 137 | -1.3% |
| Kia Ora (Air NZ) | 148 | 124 | -0.7% |
| Property Press | 114 | 121 | 0.1% |
| Cuisine | 152 | 119 | -0.9% |
| Mindfood | 129 | 108 | -0.5% |
| North & South | 111 | 105 | -0.2% |
| NZ Gardener | 124 | 103 | -0.6% |
| Time | 110 | 98 | -0.4% |
*Roy Morgan has measured additional readership for this magazine via Cross-Platform Audiences – see next section. **NZ House & Garden (+5,000) increased their average issue readership but not enough to grow their reach of population which kept pace with population growth.
New Zealand Listener leads total cross-platform* audience growth
New Zealand Listener has increased its total cross-platform audience by 3,000, or 1.2%, to 261,000 in the 12 months to December 2018. However the National Business Review is the star performer over the last year growing its total cross-platform audience by 21,000, or an impressive 29.6%, to 92,000.
Despite these increases for NZ Listener and the National Business Review it is once again the New Zealand Woman’s Day which has a market-leading total cross-platform audience of 340,000.
Other leading magazines with strong cross-platform audiences include New Zealand Woman’s Weekly with a cross-platform audience of 207,000, New Zealand House & Garden with an audience of 176,000.
*Cross-platform audience is the number of New Zealanders who have read or accessed individual magazine content via print or online. Print is average issue readership; digital is website visitation in an average 4 weeks (New Zealand House & Garden), except for weekly titles which are in an average 7 days (New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, New Zealand Woman’s Day, New Zealand Listener and National Business Review).
Canvas increases readership and is the leading Newspaper Inserted Magazine
New Zealand’s leading newspaper inserted magazine is again the Weekend New Zealand Herald newspaper inserted magazine Canvas with an average issue readership of 315,000 now clearly ahead of Weekend on 237,000 and the Sunday Magazine included in the Sunday Star-Times on 229,000.
Behind these three market leaders are Bite on 211,000, Your Weekend on 203,000 and Viva on 202,000.
Canvas which increased its readership by 13,000 over the last year and Viva which increased its readership by 8,000 over the last year were the only leading newspaper inserted magazines to grow their readership over the past year.
New Zealand’s Top 5 Newspaper Inserted Magazines by Print Readership
| Publication | 12m to Dec 2017 | 12m to Dec 2018 | % Reach Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| Canvas (North Island) | 302 | 315 | 0.2% |
| Weekend (North Island) | 247 | 237 | -0.4% |
| Sunday Magazine | 306 | 229 | -2.1% |
| Bite (North Island) | 211 | 211 | -0.1%* |
| Your Weekend | 225 | 203 | -0.6% |
| Viva (North Island) | 194 | 202 | 0.1% |
*Your Weekend (+2,000) increased their average issue readership but not enough to grow their reach of population which kept pace with population growth.
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:
“The latest Roy Morgan readership figures for New Zealand show strong growth in cross-platform audiences for many of New Zealand’s leading newspapers led by the most widely read newspaper the New Zealand Herald.
“Over 3.1 million New Zealanders now read or access newspapers in an average 7 day period via print or online (website or app) equivalent to nearly four-in-five New Zealanders. Leading the way is the aforementioned New Zealand Herald with a cross-platform audience of over 1.85 million, up by 39,000 (+2.2%) on a year ago.
“However, the Herald isn’t the only leading newspaper to grow its audience in 2018. Other leading newspapers including the Hawke’s Bay Today (+25.7%), Waikato Times (+24.1%), Bay of Plenty Times (+12.9%), Northern Advocate (+8.9%) and Otago Daily Times (+3.8%) have all significantly grown their cross-platform audiences.
“Although growth in magazine readership hasn’t been as impressive during this time period over 2.2 million New Zealanders (56.1%) are now reading magazines whether in print or online. This remains a huge existing and valuable audience that advertisers can reach via established and well-known brands.
“In fact the star performer when it comes to magazines over the past year has been the real estate focused Property Press which grew its readership to 121,000 and into the top 10 most widely read magazines in New Zealand for the first time.
“The high readership of Property Press comes at an interesting time for New Zealand’s housing markets as prices in Auckland declined slightly in 2018 although New Zealand’s largest city finished 2018 as the seventh ‘least affordable’ housing market in the world according to an international study by Demographia.”
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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 |
