First full year since Nine purchase of Fairfax sees audience increases for SMH, The Age and Australian Financial Review
Roy Morgan today releases the latest readership results for Australian newspapers for the 12 months to December 2019. Now 15.5 million Australians aged 14+ (74.6%) read or access newspapers in an average 7 day period via print or online (website or app) platforms, and this audience increases to 16.4 million (78.7%) when one considers news portals such as news.com.au.
The good news for the Nine Entertainment owned mastheads is that there have been increases in cross-platform audiences for their three leading titles The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review since the merger closed in December 2018.
Australia’s most widely read masthead The Sydney Morning Herald has increased its cross-platform audience 4.1 per cent to 4,303,000 and Melbourne stablemate The Age is in second place with a cross-platform audience of 2,850,000, an increase of 1.2 per cent.
However the standout performer over the past year is again the Australian Financial Review (AFR) which increased its total cross-platform audience by a significant 14.1 per cent to 1,642,000 driven by a substantial increase in the AFR’s digital audience – up by 19.9 per cent to 1,402,000.
The News Corp daily the Herald Sun is in third place overall with a cross-platform audience of 2,756,000 in front of its Sydney counterpart the Daily Telegraph which now has a cross-platform audience of 2,525,000 – although both have declined over the last year.
National broadsheet The Australian with a cross-platform audience of 2,372,000 fills out the top five.
These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 50,422 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to December 2019.
Top State-wide & National Mastheads by Total 7 Day Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)
*Total cross-platform audience comprises print which is net readership in an average 7 days and digital which is net website visitation and app usage in an average 7 days.
Print Newspapers now read by around 6 million Australians (29%)
Nearly 6 million Australians read the listed print newspapers, including around 4.2 million who read weekday issues, almost 3.5 million who read Saturday editions and more than 3 million who read Sunday titles. Although print readership has declined year-on-year, these figures show almost 3-in-10 Australians read print newspapers. In today’s digitally-focused world print newspapers continue to be an important advertising medium to reach both mass and niche audiences.
Weekend Newspaper Readership down from a year ago
Australia’s best read weekend newspaper is again Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph with an average issue print readership of 618,000 – down 25.2 per cent over the past year – ahead of southern stablemate Melbourne’s Sunday Herald Sun which has a print readership of 568,000 (down 22.9 per cent).
Other major titles to decline included the Saturday Herald Sun down 17.2 per cent to a readership of 552,000, The Weekend Australian down 8.6 per cent to 539,000, The Sunday Mail in Queensland down 14.2 per cent to 503,000, the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald down 23.8 per cent to 448,000 and Melbourne’s Saturday Age down 16.3 per cent to 440,000 readers.
Top Weekend Newspapers – Ranked by Print Readership*
| Publication | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | % Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| Sunday Telegraph | 826 | 618 | -25.2% |
| Sunday Herald Sun | 737 | 568 | -22.9% |
| Saturday Herald Sun | 667 | 552 | -17.2% |
| The Weekend Australian | 590 | 539 | -8.6% |
| The Sunday Mail (Qld) | 586 | 503 | -14.2% |
| Saturday SMH | 588 | 448 | -23.8% |
| Saturday Age | 526 | 440 | -16.3% |
*Print readership is average issue readership.
Newspaper Inserted Magazines: Readership of Boss, The Deal and SA Weekend increases
Three newspaper inserted magazines have managed to increase their readership over the last year despite broader industry trends led by the AFR’s Boss Magazine which increased its readership by 17 per cent to 179,000.
Also increasing their readership was The Deal magazine for which readership increased 9.2 per cent to 71,000 and SA Weekend now with 239,000 readers, up 8.6 per cent.
However, although down 21.6 per cent, Good Weekend clearly remains Australia's most widely read newspaper inserted magazine with print readership of 819,000. Real estate focused magazine Domain is the second most widely read with a readership of 654,000, down 18.3 per cent.
The Weekend Australian magazine is again the third most widely read newspaper inserted magazine with a readership of 539,000, down 9.7 per cent on a year ago, ahead of Stellar magazine read by 476,000, down a significant 33.4 per cent on a year ago. Sunday Life is the fifth most widely read newspaper inserted magazine with a readership of 436,000, down 35.8 per cent.
Top Newspaper Inserted Magazines – Ranked by Print Readership*
| Publication | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | % Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| Good Weekend (NSW/Vic) | 1,045 | 819 | -21.6% |
| Domain (NSW/Vic) | 800 | 654 | -18.3% |
| Weekend Australian Magazine | 597 | 539 | -9.7% |
| Stellar (NSW/Vic) | 715 | 476 | -33.4% |
| Sunday Life (NSW/Vic) | 679 | 436 | -35.8% |
| Sunday Telegraph TV Guide (NSW) | 524 | 375 | -28.4% |
| Financial Review Magazine | 408 | 326 | -20.1% |
*Print readership is average issue readership.
The Examiner in Launceston stands out with a significant increase in print readership
The best performing regional newspaper over the past year has clearly been The Examiner based in the Tasmanian city of Launceston which increased its weekday readership by 25.9 per cent to 34,000.
However, the most widely read regional newspaper is its southern counterpart The Hobart Mercury with a readership of 47,000 (down 11.3 per cent) alongside the Gold Coast Bulletin on 47,000 (down 16.1 per cent).
The Newcastle Herald is in a clear third position with a readership of 43,000 (down 23.2 per cent).
Top Monday – Friday Regional Newspapers – Ranked by Print Readership*
| Publication | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | % Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| The Hobart Mercury | 53 | 47 | -11.3% |
| Gold Coast Bulletin | 56 | 47 | -16.1% |
| Newcastle Herald | 56 | 43 | -23.2% |
| Canberra Times | 44 | 38 | -13.6% |
| Townsville Bulletin | 43 | 36 | -16.3% |
| The Examiner | 27 | 34 | 25.9% |
*Print readership is average issue readership.
The total cross-platform audiences of Australia’s leading regional titles have again declined over the last year. Despite this decline in its digital audience the Canberra Times remains Australia’s most widely read regional masthead with a total cross-platform audience of 372,000 ahead of the Newcastle Herald with an audience of 198,000 and The Hobart Mercury with an audience of 186,000.
Total Cross-Platform Audience for available regional titles
*Total cross-platform audience comprises print which is net readership in an average 7 days and digital which is net website visitation and app usage in an average 7 days.
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:
“Roy Morgan’s latest readership results for 2019 show it has been a good year for the Nine Entertainment owned Fairfax newspapers. All three leading titles The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review (AFR) saw increases in audience since the merger closed in December 2018.
“The Sydney Morning Herald has an audience of over 4.3 million ahead of southern stablemate The Age which is now read by 2.85 million in second place nationally. In addition The Australian Financial Review (AFR) now attracts an audience of 1.65 million representing an impressive increase of 14.1 per cent from a year ago. Impressively, the AFR is the only leading masthead to increase both its print readership (+7.4%) and digital audience (+19.9%) during 2019.
“Overall readership results show 15.5 million Australians 14+ now access newspapers either in print, or online via website or app in an average 7 day period – and including news portals such as news.com.au increases this audience to 16.4 million – almost four-in-five Australians.
“Although Nine Entertainment holds the edge for performance improvements in 2019 the News Corp owned titles continue to dominate the list of Australia’s most widely read mastheads accounting for four out of the top six led by the Herald Sun (2.8 million), Daily Telegraph (2.5 million), The Australian (2.4 million) and the Courier-Mail in sixth on nearly 1.8 million.”
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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 |
