Readership of magazines is up 3.5% from a year ago with increases in readership for all magazine categories

15.1 million Australians read magazines in print or online

Now 11.6 million Australians aged 14+ (53.0%) read print magazines, up 3.5 per cent on a year ago, according to the results released today from the Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to September 2023.

This market broadens to 15.1 million Australians aged 14+ (69.2%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, which is virtually unchanged from a year ago. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 65,331 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to September 2023.

Print readership increased for an exceptional 14 magazine categories compared to a year ago

The increases in readership were widespread over the last year with a large majority of magazine categories (14 in total) increasing their readership. The final pandemic-era restrictions were lifted by October 2022.

There were five magazine categories to increase their total readership by more than 100,000 people compared to a year ago led by the most widely read magazine category of all, Food & Entertainment magazines, which increased its print readership by 4.3 per cent to 7,494,000.

The second most widely read category of Home & Garden magazines increased their readership by a large 12.1 per cent to 4,251,000 and Mass Women’s magazines were up 4.5 per cent to 2,830,000.

There were also improvements for Business, Financial & Airline magazines, up a large 29.2 per cent to 1,313,000, Health & Family magazines, up 3.6 per cent to 1,333,000, Women’s Fashion Magazines, up 19.9 per cent to 996,000, TV Magazines, up 9.8 per cent to 617,000, Sports Magazines, up 13 per cent to 522,000, Women’s Lifestyle Magazines, up 3.5 per cent to 353,000, Computing, Gaming & Info Tech Magazines, up a large 36.2 per cent to 320,000 and Fishing Magazines, up 13.7 per cent to 257,000.

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

An impressive eight of the top 10 most widely read magazines increased their print readership over the last year and looking more broadly an impressive 20 out of the top 25.

Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with print readership of 1,805,000, up 10.9 per cent on a year ago ahead of the The Australian Women’s Weekly on 1,336,000, up 8.3 per cent.

In the top ten magazines the biggest improver from a year ago is the National Geographic which has increased its readership by an impressive 22.5 per cent to 1,011,000 and is one of only three paid magazines with a readership of over 1 million.

Two other paid magazines in the top ten have increased their print readership over the last year led by Woman’s Day, up 4.3 per cent to 783,000 and House & Garden with a large increase of 20.4 per cent to 696,000.

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

Australia's two most widely read free magazines are Fresh Ideas (from Woolworths) with a growing print readership of 5,058,000, up 6.1 per cent on a year ago just ahead of Coles magazine with readership increasing 3.1 per cent to 4,970,000.

Bunnings magazine is the third most widely read free magazine with a print readership of 1,834,000, up 16.5 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 1,247,000.

Other magazines to increase their print readership over the past year included Take 5 Bumper Monthly, up 5.6 per cent to 546,000, Take 5 (Weekly), up 2.5 per cent to 493,000, Qantas Magazine, up 38.7 per cent to 491,000 (the largest increase of any of the top 15 most widely read magazines as Australians returned to travelling), That’s Life!, up 3.8 per cent to 489,000, Australian Geographic, up 25.5 per cent to 487,000, Gardening Australia, up 8.0 per cent to 472,000, Vogue Australia, up 29.3 per cent to 461,000, AFL Record, up 47.4 per cent to 401,000, TV Week, up 8.8 per cent to 395,000, Home Beautiful, up 28.2 per cent to 391,000 and Reader’s Digest Australia, up 8.7 per cent to 362,000 and Marie Claire, up 29.7 per cent to 307,000 and the fastest growing fashion title in Australia.

Top 25 Magazines by print readership – September 2023
(Magazines in bold are up on a year ago)

Full Magazine Print Readership Results available to view here.

The five most read categories of magazines by print readership

• Food & Entertainment (7,494,000 Australians, 34.4% of the population);
• Home & Garden (4,251,000 Australians, 19.5% of the population);
• General Interest (4,084,000 Australians, 18.7% of the population);
• Mass Women’s (2,830,000 Australians, 13.0% of the population);
• Health & Family (1,333,000 Australians, 6.1% of the population).

Food & Entertainment magazines number one with total print readership of almost 7.5 million

Food & Entertainment is again Australia's best performing magazine category and is now read by 7,494,000 Australians, or 34.4% of the population – over 3 million ahead of any other category. This is an increase of over 300,000, up 4.3 per cent, on a year ago with an impressive six out of the seven titles in the 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 5,058,000 Australians, up 289,000 (up 6.1 per cent) on a year ago, just ahead of Coles magazine with a print readership of 4,970,000, up 151,000 (up 3.1 per cent).

There were also increases for Delicious, up 1.8 per cent to 289,000, Australian Gourmet Traveller, up 7.3 per cent to readership of 220,000, Cooking with Australian Women’s Weekly, up 21.6 per cent to a readership of 124,000 and New Idea Food, up 1 per cent to 106,000.

Home & Garden magazines are in second place and read by over 4.2 million Australians

Home & Garden magazines are now read by 4,251,000 Australians, up a large 459,000 (up 12.1 per cent) on a year ago accounting for almost one-in-five Australians (19.5% of the population). There were a majority of eleven (out of 17) 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 1,805,000 – 1.1 million more than any other paid magazine in the category and up 10.9 per cent on a year ago.

The most widely read Home & Garden magazine is the freely available Bunnings magazine which is now read by 1,834,000, up 16.5 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 696,000, up 20.4 per cent on a year ago, Gardening Australia with a readership of 472,000, up 8 per cent on a year ago, Home Beautiful with a readership of 391,000, up 28.2 per cent on a year ago and Vogue Living with a readership of 250,000, up 17.4 per cent on a year ago.

Other magazines to grow their print readership over the last year were Organic Gardener, up 20.6 per cent to 170,000, Inside Out, up 8.2 per cent to 132,000, Australian Country Homes, up 48.6 per cent to 107,000, Home Design, up 3.3 per cent to 95,000 and Backyard & Outdoor Living, up 70.5 per cent to 75,000.

Print readership of General Interest magazines virtually unchanged at almost 4.1 million

4,084,000 Australians, or 18.7% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazines in the year to September 2023 and there were four magazines to increase their print readership.

National Geographic was the clear standout magazine and increased its readership by an impressive 22.5 per cent to 1,011,000 to be one of only three paid magazines read by over 1 million Australians

Another magazine to see a large increase in readership was Australian Geographic with a print readership of 487,000 (up 25.5 per cent). Also increasing their readership were Reader’s Digest Australia, up 8.7 per cent to a readership of 362,000 and Big Issue, with a print readership of 303,000 after an increase of 27.8 per cent – the largest percentage increase of any magazine in the category..

There were also strong performances by motoring club magazines: Open Road (NSW) read by 1,247,000, Road Ahead (Qld) read by 640,000, Horizons (WA) read by 268,000 and SA Move read by 190,000.

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by over 2.8 million Australians – up 4.5 per cent

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by 2,830,000 Australians equal to 13 per cent of the population, and up 4.5 per cent on a year ago. The category includes five magazines read by more than 500,000 people – more than any other category.

Easily the most widely read magazine in the category is The Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 1,336,000, an increase of 8.3 per cent on a year ago ahead of second-placed Woman’s Day with a readership of 783,000, up 4.3 per cent on a year ago.

The popular ‘competition-focused’ magazines are also widely read led by That’s Life! Mega Monthly read by 554,000, Take 5 Bumper Monthly with a readership of 546,000, an increase of 5.6 per cent on a year ago, Take 5 (Weekly) with a readership of 493,000, up 2.5 per cent on a year ago and That’s Life, up 3.8 per cent from a year ago and read by 489,000.

Another widely read magazine in the category is the third-placed New Idea with a readership of 561,000. The biggest increase in the category was achieved by Royals Monthly (by New Idea) which, during a year in which Queen Elizabeth passed on and King Charles ascended to the throne, increased readership by 269,000, or 25.7 per cent on a year ago.

Health & Family magazines increase their print readership by 3.6% from a year ago

Overall the Health & Family magazines print readership increased by a 3.6 per cent to 1,333,000 (6.1% of the population) with four out of the five magazines in the category increasing their readership.

Leading the way was  by Diabetic Living, up 19.6 per cent to 275,000 and WellBeing, up 45.2 per cent to 244,000. There was also an increase for Prevention by 1.3 per cent to 76,000 while the third most widely read magazine in the category was Healthy Food Guide with a readership of 160,000.

Women’s Fashion and Business & Financial magazines increase their readership

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

Women’s Fashion magazines performed well over the last year increasing category readership by 19.9 per cent to 996,000. All four continuing magazines increased their readership led by Marie Claire, up by a category leading 29.7 per cent to 307,000 and Vogue Australia, the most widely read magazine in the category, up 29.3 per cent to 461,000. Also increasing were Frankie, up 15.3 per cent to 285,000 and Harper’s Bazaar, up 14.6 per cent to 164,000.

Business, Financial & Airline magazines increased their readership by 29.2 per cent to 1,313,000 over the last year led by Qantas Magazine, up 38.7 per cent to 491,000, Money Magazine, up 9.9 per cent to 222,000, Time, up 19.5 per cent to 221,000, The Monthly, up 12.9 per cent to 192,000 and New Scientist, up 1.4 per cent to 213,000.

Women’s Lifestyle magazines were an excellent performer over the last year growing overall print readership by 3.5 per cent to 353,000. Two of the magazines in the category increased their readership on a year ago led by English Woman’s Weekly, up 5.2 per cent to 122,000, ahead of MindFood which increased its readership by 5.6 per cent to 94,000.

Motorcycle magazines are read by 193,000 Australians, up 2.1 per cent on a year ago and three of the four magazines in the category increased their readership on a year ago. The magazines to grow their readership were Australian Motorcycle News, up 9.1 per cent to 108,000, Road Rider, up an impressive 23.1 per cent to 48,000 and Dirt Action, up 2 per cent to 50,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly included the AFL Record (Apr-Sep), up an excellent 47.4 per cent to 401,000, TV Week, up 8.8 per cent to 395,000, Wheels, up 29.2 per cent to 292,000, Foxtel Magazine, up 21.7 per cent to 264,000, Rolling Stone, up 10.5 per cent to 243,000, Just Cars, up 10 per cent to 232,000, Golf Australia, up 16.4 per cent to 149,000, Fresh Water Fishing Australia, up 51.7 per cent to 132,000, Play Australia Magazine, up 65.8 per cent to 126,000, APC, up 29.4 per cent to 110,000, PC Powerplay, up 6.1 per cent to 87,000, Homespun, up 16.9 per cent to 76,000 and Quilters Companion, up 4.6 per cent to 68,000.

Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ digital platform is accessed by around 1 million Australians

The results for the 12 months to September 2023 for Magazine Publishers are strong with the 4 week digital platform audience data showing Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ website attracting an audience of around 1 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 The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, Take 5 and TV Week) consolidate their online presence on the ‘Now to Love’ platform. Of those magazines, Woman’s Day reaches a total cross-platform audience of over 2.5 million people while The Australian Women’s Weekly reaches over 2.2 million people.

In addition, other magazines with wide audiences include Better Homes & Gardens with an audience of almost 2.3 million, Are Media’s Take 5 (weekly), TV Week and New Idea with total audiences of well over 1.7 million and Take 5 Bumper Monthly and with an audience of over 1.5 million readers.

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.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says readership of magazines has increased impressively over the last year with 14 magazine categories increasing their readership compared to a year ago:

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

About Roy Morgan

Roy Morgan is Australia’s largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state, as well as in the U.S. and U.K. A full-service research organisation, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience collecting objective, independent information on consumers.