2.8 million New Zealanders read newspapers and nearly 1.7 million read magazines in 2022
Roy Morgan readership results for New Zealand’s print newspapers and magazines for the 12 months to June 2022.
Over two-thirds of New Zealanders aged 14+, 2.8 million (67.2%), now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition, almost 1.7 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (40.3%) 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 6,474 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to June 2022.
Five of the top ten newspapers grew their total cross-platform audience in the year to June 2022
The leading performer during the pandemic has been New Zealand’s most widely read publication the New Zealand Herald with a total cross-platform audience of 1,800,000 in the 12 months to June 2022.
Five of the top ten titles grew their total cross-platform audiences in 2021-22 led by the Northern Advocate, up 33,000 (+26.8%) to 154,000 and Hawke’s Bay Today, up 27,000 (+17.5%) to 178,000.
Other newspapers to increase their total cross-platform audiences during 2021-22 included the Otago Daily Times, up 2,000 (+0.7%) to 287,000, the Waikato Times, up 3,000 (+1.8%) to 187,000 and Bay of Plenty Times, up 8,000 (+5.7%) to 154,000.
Filling out the top ten are the Dominion Post in second place with an audience of 379,000 readers ahead of The Press in fourth place on 251,000 followed by the Sunday Star-Times on 190,000.
Top 10 Newspapers – Total 7 Day Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)
| Publication | Digital (web or app) |
Total 7 Day Cross-Platform Audience* (print, web or app) | |||||
| June 2021 |
June 2022 |
June 2021 |
June 2022 |
June 2021 |
June 2022 |
% Change | |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| New Zealand Herald | 584 | 510 | 1,598 | 1,560 | 1,844 | 1,800 | -2.4% |
| Dominion Post | 224 | 174 | 276 | 264 | 428 | 379 | -11.4% |
| Otago Daily Times | 105 | 94 | 225 | 229 | 285 | 287 | 0.7% |
| The Press | 161 | 129 | 192 | 175 | 293 | 251 | -14.4% |
| Sunday Star-Times | 177 | 155 | 62 | 45 | 230 | 190 | -17.5% |
| Waikato Times | 75 | 80 | 125 | 131 | 184 | 187 | 1.8% |
| Hawke’s Bay Today | 70 | 77 | 97 | 123 | 151 | 178 | 17.5% |
| Bay of Plenty Times | 62 | 63 | 101 | 111 | 146 | 154 | 5.7% |
| Northern Advocate | 63 | 62 | 72 | 110 | 121 | 154 | 26.8% |
| Taranaki Daily News | 65 | 43 | 91 | 95 | 132 | 118 | -10.6% |
*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.
Habitat and Dish increase their print readership during 2021-22
New Zealand’s most widely read magazine is the driving magazine AA Directions which had an average issue readership of 345,000 during the year to June 2022 – more than 100,000 ahead of the second-placed New Zealand Listener with an average issue readership of 198,000.
There were two leading magazines to increase their average issue readership in the year to June 2022 led by Habitat, which increased its readership by 17,000 to 101,000, and Dish which increased its readership by 12,000 to 91,000.
Other widely read magazines included TV Guide with a readership of 152,000, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) on 132,000, Woman’s Day on 120,000, NZ Gardener on 89,000, NZ House & Garden on 86,000 and Cuisine on 84,000.
Women’s Lifestyle and Fashion magazines were among the big improvers in 2021-22 with Mindfood, up 1,000 to 77,000, NZ Fashion Quarterly, up 13,000 to 42,000 and NZ Weddings, up 3,000 to 23,000.
Other magazines to grow their readership during the year to June 2022 included Heritage NZ, up 18,000 to 77,000, New Idea, up 10,000 to 55,000, Time, up 5,000 to 44,000, Bunnings Magazine, up 5,000 to 43,000, Art News NZ, up 9,000 to 37,000, University of Auckland Business Review, up 15,000 to 36,000, Avenues, up 4,000 to 33,000, NZ Woman’s Weekly Julie Le Clerc Magazine, up 6,000 to 30,000, Grapevine, up 5,000 to 22,000, NZ Trends Design Series, up 1,000 to 20,000, Rugby News, up 2,000 to 20,000 and NZ Motorhomes Caravans & Destinations, up 1,000 to 13,000.
Several Are Media magazines including New Zealand Listener, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition), NZ Woman’s Day and NZ Woman’s Weekly were temporarily suspended from publication in the June and September 2020 quarters due to the New Zealand lockdown. The figures for these magazines show average readership for the available quarters.
New Zealand’s Top 10 Magazines by Average Issue Print Readership
| Publication | June 2021 | June 2022 | % Reach Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| AA Directions* | 364 | 345 | -0.5% |
| **New Zealand Listener* | 213 | 198 | -0.5% |
| TV Guide* | 171 | 152 | -0.5% |
| **Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition)* |
147 | 132 | -0.4% |
| **NZ Woman’s Day* | 143 | 120 | -0.6% |
| Habitat* | 84 | 101 | 0.4% |
| Dish* | 79 | 91 | 0.3% |
| NZ Gardener* | 98 | 89 | -0.3% |
| NZ House & Garden* | 105 | 86 | -0.4% |
| Cuisine | 84 | 84 | 0.0% |
*Roy Morgan has measured additional readership for this magazine via Cross-Platform Audiences – see next section. **Note: Are Media magazines were temporarily suspended during the June and September 2020 quarters. Results for these magazines have been suppressed for the impacted quarters, average issue readership is allocated instead.
Habitat, Dish, NZ House & Garden and Mindfood lead cross-platform* audience growth in 2022
Of the top ten magazines by cross-platform audience there were four which experienced growth during 2021-22 – led by Habitat and Dish which both increased their audiences by more than 20% on a year ago.
The total cross-platform audience of Habitat increased by 44,000 (+38.9%) to 157,000 while for Dish the total audience grew by 32,000 (+21.9%) to 179,000. There was also cross-platform audience growth for NZ House & Garden, up 16,000 (+11.2%) to 162,000 and Mindfood, up 13,000 (+8.5%) to 162,000.
AA Directions is still easily New Zealand’s most widely read magazine with a market-leading total cross-platform audience of 436,000 – 200,000 ahead of the second most widely read New Zealand Listener with a total cross-platform audience 236,000 in the 12 months to June 2022.
Other leading magazines with strong cross-platform audiences of over 150,000 include TV Guide on 191,000, NZ Woman’s Day on 185,000, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) on 185,000 and NZ Woman’s Weekly on 154,000.
Importantly as we transition into an increasingly digital environment, all of the top ten magazines grew their digital audience over the year to June 2022 including AA Directions, up 3,000 to 169,000, Dish, up 18,000 to 113,000, Mindfood, up 11,000 to 104,000, NZ Woman’s Day & NZ Woman’s Weekly/ Now to Love, up 18,000 to 91,000 NZ House & Garden, up 22,000 to 90,000, Habitat, up 28,000 to 73,000, New Zealand Listener, up 8,000 to 71,000, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition), up 12,000 to 71,000 and TV Guide, up 3,000 to 62,000.
Top 10 Magazines – Total Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)
| Publication | Digital (web or app) |
Total Cross-Platform Audience* (print, web or app) |
|||||
| June 2021 |
June 2022 |
June 2021 |
June 2022 |
June 2021 |
June 2022 |
% Change | |
| ‘000 | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| AA Directions | 364 | 345 | 166 | 169 | 447 | 436 | -2.5% |
| **New Zealand Listener | 213 | 198 | 63 | 71 | 243 | 236 | -2.8% |
| TV Guide | 171 | 152 | 59 | 62 | 195 | 191 | -2.1% |
| **NZ Woman’s Day/ Now to Love | 143 | 120 | 73 | 91 | 193 | 185 | -4.1% |
| **Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) | 147 | 132 | 59 | 71 | 187 | 185 | -0.9% |
| Dish | 79 | 91 | 95 | 113 | 147 | 179 | 21.9% |
| NZ House & Garden | 105 | 86 | 68 | 90 | 146 | 162 | 11.2% |
| Mindfood | 76 | 77 | 93 | 104 | 149 | 162 | 8.5% |
| Habitat | 84 | 101 | 45 | 73 | 113 | 157 | 38.9% |
| **NZ Woman’s Weekly/ Now to Love | 101 | 76 | 73 | 91 | 155 | 154 | -0.7% |
*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 average website visitation and app usage (if available) in last 7 days for weekly titles (National Business Review, New Idea, NZ Listener, NZ Woman's Day, NZ Woman's Weekly, Property Press, That's Life, Time, TV Guide) and last 4 weeks for all other non-weekly titles.
**Note: Are Media magazines were temporarily suspended during the June and September 2020 quarters. Results for some of these magazines have been suppressed for the latest quarter, average issue readership is allocated instead.
Bite was the standout Newspaper Inserted Magazine as it continued to grow its readership in 2022
The New Zealand Herald newspaper inserted magazine Bite (North Island) is the only one of the six measured here to increase its average issue readership over the past year, up by 19,000 to 143,000.
However, stablemate Canvas (North Island) remained as clearly the most widely read with an average issue readership of 243,000 in the year to June 2022 – nearly 100,000 ahead of any other.
The second most widely read newspaper inserted magazine in the year to June 2022 was Weekend (North Island) with an average issue readership of 153,000 just ahead of Viva (North Island) with a readership of 146,000 and Sunday Magazine with a readership of 145,000.
Behind the five market leaders is Your Weekend with an average issue readership of 122,000.
New Zealand’s Leading Newspaper Inserted Magazines by Print Readership
| Publication | June 2021 | June 2022 | % Reach Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| Canvas (North Island) | 253 | 243 | -0.3% |
| Weekend (North Island) | 161 | 153 | -0.2% |
| Viva (North Island) | 166 | 146 | -0.5% |
| Sunday Magazine | 174 | 145 | -0.7% |
| Bite (North Island) | 124 | 143 | 0.4% |
| Your Weekend | 140 | 122 | -0.5% |
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:
“The latest Roy Morgan readership figures for New Zealand covering the year to June 2022 show 2.8 million New Zealanders (67.2% of the population aged 14+) now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app). The leading newspaper is again the New Zealand Herald with a total cross-platform audience of 1.8 million and is read by well over four times as many people as any other newspaper.
“There was strong growth in cross-platform audiences over the last year for the country’s leading newspapers with five out of the top ten growing their audiences in 2021-22. Leading newspapers to grow their cross-platform audiences include Hawke’s Bay Today, up 17.5% to 178,000, Bay of Plenty Times, up 5.7% to 154,000 and Northern Advocate, up 26.8% to 154,000.
“Although we are now emerging from the pandemic after more than two years, the impacts of the changes to lifestyles and habits, including how we read newspapers and magazines, are set to continue impacting the industry going forward. Several magazines were forced to suspend their publishing during the early stages of the pandemic including the period from April to September 2020.
“Despite these challenges over the past two years the audiences for New Zealand’s magazines are holding steady and in the year to June 2022 nearly 1.7 million New Zealanders (40.3% of the population aged 14+) read magazines whether in print or online either via the web or an app.
“There have been many magazines to grow both their cross-platform audiences during 2021-22 led by four of the most widely read magazines in the country: Dish, NZ House & Garden, Mindfood and Habitat. Other magazines to perform well with increased cross-platform audiences included NZ Gardener, Fish & Game NZ, Nadia, New Idea, Healthy Food Guide and Time.
“Women’s Fashion and Lifestyle magazines were also big winners during 2021-22 with several growing their print readerships led by Mindfood, NZ Fashion Quarterly, NZ Weddings and the Mass Women’s magazine New Idea as these magazines recovered strongly after the disruptions to business of the early stages of the pandemic.”
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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 |
