An exceptional 15 magazine categories grew their readership over the last year led by Food & Entertainment, General Interest, Home & Garden, Mass Women’s, Health & Family, Women’s Fashion and Women’s Lifestyle – all with readership up on 2022

15 million Australians read magazines in print and online

Now 11.5 million Australians aged 14+ (53.4%) read print magazines, up 5.1 per cent on a year ago, according to the results released today from the Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to March 2023.

This market broadens to 15 million Australians aged 14+ (69.9%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, a small drop of 2.5 per cent from a year ago. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 65,863 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to March 2023.

Print readership increased for 15 of 17 magazine categories compared to a year ago including Food & Entertainment, Home & Garden, Health & Family and Mass Women’s and more

These readership increases occurred as Australians enjoyed a considerable easing of restrictions following the extensive lockdowns of 2021. Most COVID-19 restrictions were lifted by October 2022.

All top six magazine categories with total readerships over 1 million people, were up on a year ago. The most widely read category of Food & Entertainment magazines increased its print readership by 6.8 per cent to 7,416,000 ahead of General Interest magazines with a readership of 4,121,000, up 3.9 per cent.

The print readership of Home & Garden magazines, the third most widely read magazine category, was up 12.5 per cent to 4,090,000 and Mass Women’s magazines were up 6.2 per cent to 2,828,000. Also increasing were Health & Family magazines, up 14.6 per cent to 1,330,000 and Business, Financial & Airline magazines, up 21.7 per cent to 1,122,000.

There were also big improvements in Women’s Fashion, up 23.1 per cent to 917,000, Women’s Lifestyle up 12.9 per cent to 359,000 and Motorcyle magazines, up 13.6 per cent to 200,000.

Nine of the top 10 magazines increased their print readership over the past year with Better Homes & Gardens and Australian Women’s Weekly again the most widely read paid magazines

The top eight most widely read magazines increased their print readership over the last year and looking more broadly a impressive 20 out of the top 25.

Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with print readership of 1,792,000, up 17.2 per cent on a year ago – the largest increase of any of the top 15 magazines – ahead of the Australian Women’s Weekly on 1,309,000, up 8.8 per cent. These two magazines continue to be the only two paid magazines with a readership of over 1 million.

In addition, National Geographic has an impressive and growing print readership, up 16.5 per cent to 955,000 to be Australia’s third most widely read paid magazine ahead of Woman’s Day, up 13.6 per cent to 810,000 ahead of Taste.com.au Magazine with a print readership of 718,000.

Coles magazine & Fresh Ideas are the most widely read with almost 5 million readers each

Australia's two most widely read free magazines are Fresh Ideas (from Woolworths) with a growing print readership of 4,992,000, up 9.9 per cent on a year ago just ahead of Coles magazine with readership increasing 5 per cent to 4,974,000.

Bunnings magazine is the third most widely read free magazine with a print readership of 1,672,000, up 11.2 per cent on a year ago, ahead of the NRMA’s magazine Open Road (NSW) which rounds out the top four free magazines with a readership of 1,281,000, up an impressive 3.3 per cent on a year ago.

Other magazines to increase their print readership over the past year included House & Garden, up 12.7 per cent to 647,000, New Idea, up 5 per cent to 606,000, Take 5 Bumper Monthly, up 10.3 per cent to 580,000, That’s Life Mega Monthly, up 1.3 per cent to 561,000, Australian Geographic, up 12.1 per cent to 491,000, Gardening Australia, up 5.4 per cent to 452,000, Vogue Australia, up a large 29.8 per cent to 423,000, Qantas Magazine, up 21.9 per cent to 412,000 and TV Week, up 22.3 per cent to 412,000.

Top 25 Magazines by print readership – March 2023

Full Magazine Print Readership Results available to view here. *Reporting period covers in-flight distribution.

The five most read categories of magazines by print readership

• Food & Entertainment (7,416,000 Australians, 34.6% of the population);
• General Interest (4,121,000 Australians, 19.2% of the population);
• Home & Garden (4,090,000 Australians, 19.1% of the population);
• Mass Women’s (2,828,000 Australians, 13.2% of the population);
• Health & Family (1,330,000 Australians, 6.2% of the population).

Food & Entertainment magazines number one with total print readership of over 7.4 million

Food & Entertainment is again Australia's best performing magazine category and is now read by 7,416,000 Australians, or 34.6% of the population – over 3 million ahead of any other category. This is an increase of over 475,000, up 6.8 per cent, on a year ago with a majority of nine out of the 11 titles in this category increasing their print readership compared to a year ago.

The free supermarket titles remain the clear leaders in the category led by Woolworth’s Fresh Ideas read by 4,992,000 Australians, up 450,000 (up 9.9 per cent) on a year ago, just ahead of Coles magazine with a print readership of 4,974,000, up 236,000 (up 5.0 per cent).

The most widely read paid magazine is Taste.com.au magazine with a readership of 718,000 while there were also increases for Delicious, up 0.7 per cent to 273,000 and Australian Gourmet Traveller, up 15.1 per cent to readership of 213,000.

Other magazines in the category to increase their readership included New Idea Food, up 49.3 per cent to 109,000, Cooking with Australian Women’s Weekly, up 39.2 per cent to 110,000, The Wine Magazine, up 28.2 per cent to 100,000, Halliday (was Wine Companion), up 32.6 per cent to 57,000 and Selector, up 29.4 per cent to 44,000.

Print readership of General Interest magazines increases to over 4.1 million during 2022-23

4,121,000 Australians, or 19.2% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazines, up 155,000 (up 3.9 per cent) on a year ago. Of the 14 magazines in the category, seven increased their print readership from a year ago.

National Geographic was the most widely read paid magazine in the category with a print readership of 955,000, an impressive increase of 16.5 per cent on a year ago – the largest percentage increase in the category for the most widely read magazine, ahead of Australian Geographic with a print readership of 491,000 (up 12.1 per cent) and Reader’s Digest Australia with a print readership of 337,000.

There were also strong performances by several motoring magazines: Open Road (NSW) read by 1,281,000 (up 3.3 per cent), Road Ahead (Qld) now read by 646,000, Horizons (WA) read by 268,000 (up 0.4 per cent) and SA Motor (SA) read by 239,000 (up 11.2 per cent).

Other magazines to record print readership increases were the astronomy focused Cosmos, up 8.8 per cent to 124,000 and Big Issue, up 8.7 per cent to 262,000.

Home & Garden magazines are in a clear third place read by over 4 million Australians

Home & Garden magazines are now read by 4,090,000 Australians, up 453,000 (up 12.5 per cent) on a year ago accounting for almost one-in-five Australians. There were a majority of ten (out of 18) magazines in the category to increase their print readership on a year ago.

Australia’s most widely read paid magazine is again Better Homes & Gardens with a print readership of 1,792,000 – almost 500,000 more than any other paid magazine and up 17.2 per cent on a year ago.

The second most widely read is the freely available Bunnings magazine which is now read by 1,672,000, up 11.2 per cent on a year ago, and is the only other magazine in the category with a readership over 1 million.

Other well-known and widely read magazines in this category include House & Garden with a growing readership of 647,000, up 12.7 per cent on a year ago, Gardening Australia with a readership of 452,000, up 5.4 per cent on a year ago, Home Beautiful with a readership of 317,000 and Vogue Living with a readership of 231,000, up 6.5 per cent on a year ago.

Other magazines to grow their print readership over the last year were Organic Gardener, up 39.4 per cent to 177,000, Grand Designs Australia, up 2.5 per cent to 162,000, Belle, up 3.1 per cent to 133,000 and Backyard & Outdoor Living, up 3.8 per cent to 55,000.

Mass Women’s magazines are read by over 2.8 million Australians in 2022

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by 2,828,000 Australians equal to 13.2 per cent of the population, and up 6.2 per cent on a year ago. The category include five magazines read by more than 500,000 people – more than any other category.

Easily the most widely read magazine in the category is Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 1,309,000, an increase of 8.8 per cent on a year ago ahead of second-placed Woman’s Day with a readership of 810,000, up 13.6 per cent on a year ago, and third-placed New Idea with a readership of 606,000, up 5.0 per cent.

The popular ‘competition-focused’ magazines are also widely read led by Take 5 Bumper Monthly with a readership of 580,000, an increase of 10.3 per cent on a year ago, That’s Life! Mega Monthly read by 561,000, up 1.3 per cent, Take 5 (Weekly) with a readership of 491,000, up 0.2 per cent on a year ago and That’s Life, unchanged from a year ago and read by 485,000.

Also increasing in readership during a year in which Queen Elizabeth passed on and King Charles ascended to the throne was Royals Monthly (by New Idea) read by 257,000, up 16.3 per cent on a year ago – the largest increase for any magazine in the category.

Health & Family magazines increase their print readership by 14.6% from a year ago

Overall the Health & Family magazines print readership increased by a substantial 14.6 per cent to 1,330,000 (6.2% of the population) – the largest increase of any of the top five magazine categories.

Five of the six magazines in the category experienced an increase in print readership over the last year led by Diabetic Living, up 48.1 per cent to a readership of 268,000.

There were other large increases in print readership for Wellbeing, up 26.4 per cent to 187,000, Prevention, up 12.9 per cent to 79,000 and Wellbeing Wild, up 4.2 per cent to 50,000.

Women’s Fashion and Women’s Lifestyle magazine categories increase readership

There was growth in several smaller magazine categories with the Women’s Fashion, Women’s Lifestyle, Business, Financial & Airline, Motoring, Men’s Lifestyle, Music & Movies, Motorcycle, Fishing, TV and Crafts categories all increasing their print readership in the 12 months to March 2023.

Women’s Fashion magazines performed well over the last year increasing category readership by 23.1 per cent to 917,000. All four continuing magazines increased their readership led by the most widely read magazine in the category, Vogue Australia, up 29.8 per cent to 423,000. Also increasing were Marie Claire, up 22.7 per cent to 276,000, Frankie, up 21 per cent to 271,000 and Harper’s Bazaar, up 4.8 per cent to 152,000.

Women’s Lifestyle magazines were a standout performer over the last year growing overall print readership by 12.9 per cent to 359,000. All three magazines in the category increased their readership on a year ago led by Who, up 9.3 per cent to 153,000, ahead of English Woman’s Weekly which increased its readership by 21.6 per cent to 118,000 and MindFood with readership up 7.6 per cent to 99,000.

Business, Financial & Airline magazines increased their readership by 21.7 per cent to 1,122,000 over the last year led by Qantas Magazine, up 21.9 per cent to 412,000, The Monthly, up 22.7 per cent to 184,000, New Scientist, up 11.2 per cent to 208,000 and Money Magazine, up 11.4 per cent to 224,000.

Motoring magazines are the seventh most widely read magazine category and experienced growth of 2.2 per cent over the past year for an overall print readership of 919,000, or 4.3% of the population, with three of the five magazines in the category increasing their readership over the past year. The magazines that increased their readership are Street Machine, up 3.7 per cent to 309,000, Wheels, up a large 29 per cent to 267,000 and Unique Cars, up 3 per cent to 208,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly included TV Week, up 22.3 per cent to 412,000, Rolling Stone, up 10.3 per cent to 235,000, APC, up 18.3 per cent to 97,000, Homespun, up 55.4 per cent to 87,000, Quilters Companion, up 3.1 per cent to 66,000, Australian Motorcycle News, up 2.9 per cent to 108,000, Fresh Water Fishing Australia, up 5.9 per cent to 90,000 and AFL Record, up 45.5 per cent to 272,000.

Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ digital platform is accessed by more than 1.4 million Australians

The results for the 12 months to March 2023 for Magazine Publishers are impressive with the 4 week digital platform audience data showing Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ website attracting an audience of more than 1.4 million Australians in an average 4 week period. Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ platform allows advertisers to reach their audience in new ways with innovative online offerings.

Many of Are Media’s magazine brands (including 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.

Of those magazines on the ‘Now to Love’ website Woman’s Day reaches a total cross-platform audience of almost 3 million people while Australian Women’s Weekly reaches well over 2.5 million people.

Other magazines with large cross-platform audiences include News Corp’s Taste.com.au Magazine with a total audience of over 3.8 million, Better Homes & Gardens with an audience of well over 2.2 million, Are Media’s Take 5 (weekly) and TV Week with total audiences of over 2.1 million and Take 5 Bumper Monthly and New Idea with audiences approaching 2 milllion readers.

This is the third readership release following the re-engineering of Roy Morgan’s digital audience measurement data. All digital data now calls on a broader set of inputs while the algorithm to calculate the digital audiences has been refined. Revised from July 2020, data can be compared year-on-year without a trend break.

Top 15 Magazines – Total Cross-Platform Audience

Full Magazine Total Cross-Platform Audience results available to view here.

Total cross-platform audience includes print – average issue readership and digital – website visitation and app usage in an average 4 weeks.. #For additional detail on the platforms available for each magazine visit the Roy Morgan website. *Open Road (NSW) has a standalone digital audience below the minimum threshold.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says the readership of magazines increased significantly during the last year with over 15 of the 17 magazine increasing their readership compared to a year earlier:

To learn more about Roy Morgan’s Readership research, call (+61) (3) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.