14.8 million Australians read magazines in print or online

Now 11.5 million Australians aged 14+ (51.1%) read print magazines according to the results released today from the Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to September 2024.

This market broadens to 14.8 million Australians aged 14+ (65.6%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 64,871 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to September 2024.

Print readership increased for six magazine categories compared to a year ago

There were widespread increases in print readership over the last year with six magazine categories increasing their readership led by the widely read categories of Home & Garden and General Interest.

The most widely read magazine category continues to be Food & Entertainment Magazines with a massive readership of 7,408,000, over 3 million ahead of any other magazine category and reaching nearly a third of the population.

The second most widely read magazine category, Home & Garden Magazines, increased its print readership by 0.8 per cent on a year ago for a total category print readership of 4,286,000.

There was also an increase for the third placed General Interest Magazines, up 1.8 per cent to 4,158,000.

Other widely read categories include Mass Women’s Magazines read by 2,639,000 in fourth place, Business, Financial & Airline Magazines which jumped 8 per cent to 1,418,000 in fifth place to be just ahead of Health & Family Magazines with a readership of 1,261,000.

There were also improvements for Motoring Magazines, up 1.4 per cent to 924,000, Sports Magazines, up 0.7 per cent to 526,000 and Motorcycle Magazines, up a large 19 per cent to 231,000.

Better Homes and Gardens, The Australian Women’s Weekly and National Geographic are Australia’s most widely read paid magazines – each with readership over 1 million Australians.

Better Homes and Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with a print readership of 1,825,000, following an increase of 1.1 per cent from a year ago ahead of The Australian Women’s Weekly on 1.2 million.

National Geographic is the third most widely read paid magazine and had an impressive increase in readership of 4.2 per cent on a year ago to 1,053,000 to be one of only three paid magazines with a readership of over 1 million.

The fourth most widely read paid magazine is House & Garden which experienced a readership increase of 4.5 per cent from a year earlier to 727,000 to be just in front of Woman’s Day in fifth with a readership of 712,000 – one of only five paid magazines with a readership of over 700,000.

Coles & Fresh Ideas magazine are the most widely read magazines again in late 2024

Australia's two most widely read free magazines are Coles magazine and Fresh Ideas. Coles has a growing print readership of 5,346,000, up 7.6 per cent on a year ago, ahead of Fresh Ideas (from Woolworths) on 4,767,000.

Bunnings magazine is the third most widely read free magazine with a print readership of 1,925,000, up 4.9 per cent on a year ago, ahead of the RACQ’s Road Ahead which rounds out the top four free magazines with a readership of 579,000.

Other magazines to increase their print readership over the past year included Qantas Magazine, up 9.2 per cent to 536,000, Australian Geographic, up 5.2 per cent to 512,000, Vogue Australia, up 4.1 per cent to 479,000, Delicious, up 14 per cent to 329,000, Diabetic Living, up 14.9 per cent to 316,000 and rounding out the top 25 is Street Machine, with an increase of 4 per cent to 316,000.

Overall, a total of eleven of the top 25 most widely read magazines increased their readership over the last year.

Top 25 Magazines by print readership – Sept. 2024 (Magazines in bold are up on a year ago)

Full Magazine Print Readership Results available to view here.

For more details, visit the pages below:

Roy Morgan Readership results for the year ending September 2024

Roy Morgan Readership additional analysis September 2024

The five most read categories of magazines by print readership

• Food & Entertainment (7,408,000 Australians, 32.8% of the population);
• Home & Garden (4,286,000 Australians, 19.0% of the population);
• General Interest (4,158,000 Australians, 18.4% of the population);
• Mass Women’s (2,639,000 Australians, 11.7% of the population);
• Business, Financial & Airline (1,418,000 Australians, 6.3% 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 7,408,000 Australians, or 32.8% of the population – over 3 million ahead of any other category. Impressively, a majority of five out of the six titles in the category increased their print readership on a year ago.

The free supermarket titles remain the clear leaders in the category led by Coles Magazine read by 5,346,000 Australians, up 376,000 (up 7.6 per cent) on a year ago ahead of Fresh Ideas (Woolworths) with a print readership of 4,767,000.

There were also increases for Delicious, up 14 per cent to 329,000, Australian Gourmet Traveller, up 10.9 per cent to 244,000, New Idea Food, up 18.6 per cent to 126,000 and Eat Well, up 26.8 per cent to 116,000.

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

Home & Garden magazines are now read by 4,286,000 Australians, up by 35,000 (up 0.8 per cent) on a year ago accounting for almost one-in-five Australians (19% of the population). More than half of the magazines in the category, 10 out of 16 magazines, increased their print readership on a year ago.

Australia’s most widely read paid magazine is again Better Homes and Gardens with a print readership of 1,825,000, up 1.1 per cent on a year ago and well over 1 million more than any other paid magazine in the category.

The most widely read Home & Garden magazine is the free title, Bunnings Magazine which is now read by 1,925,000, up 4.9 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 727,000, up 4.5 per cent on a year ago, Gardening Australia with a readership of 430,000, Home Beautiful with a readership of 367,000 and Vogue Living with an increasing readership of 259,000, up 3.5 per cent on a year ago.

Other magazines to grow their print readership over the last year were Country Style, up 19.6 per cent to 218,000, Grand Designs Australia, up 6.8 per cent to 156,000, Australian Country Homes, up 4.5 per cent to 112,000, Home Design, up 16.2 per cent to 110,000, Good Organic Gardening, up 16.3 per cent to 109,000 and Australian Country, up a large 23.1 per cent to 65,000.

Print readership of General Interest magazines increases 1.8 per cent to over 4.1 million

4,158,000 Australians, or 18.4% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazines in the year to September 2024 with four out of 13 magazines in the category increasing their readership.

National Geographic was the clear standout magazine and increased its readership by an impressive 4.2 per cent to 1,053,000 to be one of only three paid magazines read by over 1 million Australians.

There were also strong performances by motoring club magazines: Road Ahead (Qld) with a readership of 579,000, Horizons (WA), up 8.1 per cent to 290,000 and SA Move (was SA Motor) read by 149,000.

Two other General Interest magazines increased their readership: Australian Geographic, up 5.2 per cent 512,000 and RM Williams Outback with an increase of 12.2 per cent to 223,000.

Other widely read magazines in the category include Reader’s Digest Australia with a readership of 359,000, The Big Issue with a readership of 278,000, Australian Traveller with a readership of 132,000, Vacations & Travel with a readership of 115,000 and Cosmos with a readership of 113,000.

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by over 2.6 million Australians

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by 2,639,000 Australians equal to more than one-in-nine Australians (11.7 per cent of the population). The category includes seven magazines read by more than 400,000 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 1.2 million ahead of second-placed Woman’s Day with a print readership of 712,000 and New Idea with a print readership of 509,000.

The popular ‘competition-focused’ magazines are also widely read, led by That’s Life! Mega Monthly read by 547,000, Take 5 Bumper Monthly with a readership of 546,000, That’s Life! with a readership of 466,000 and Take 5 (Weekly) with a readership of 430,000.

Business, Financial & Airline magazines increase their print readership by a stunning 8%

Overall, the Business, Financial & Airline magazines category increased print readership by an impressive 8 per cent to 1,418,000 (6.3% of the population) over the last year.

The big mover in the category – and the only magazine in the category read by more than 300,000 people, was the Qantas Magazine, up 9.2 per cent to 536,000.

There were several other magazines in the category with impressive readership led by Forbes Australia with a readership of 270,000, Time magazine up 3 per cent to 227,000, New Scientist on 212,000, Money Magazine read by 190,000 and The Monthly with a print readership of 153,000.

Motoring, Sports and Motorcycle magazines increase their readership

There was growth in several smaller magazine categories with the Motoring, Sports and Motoring categories all increasing their print readership in the 12 months to September 2024.

Motoring magazines increased readership by 1.4 per cent to 924,000. The category’s widest read magazine is Street Machine with a readership of 316,000, up 4 per cent on a year ago ahead of Wheels with a readership of 282,000. Also increasing their readership over the last year were 4x4 Australia, up 4.1 per cent to 241,000 and Unique Cars, up 0.3 per cent to 210,000.

Sports magazines increased readership by 0.7 per cent to 526,000. The category’s widest read magazine is the AFL Record (Apr-Sep) with a readership of 330,000, however the increases over the last year were for Golf Australia, up 5.8 per cent to 158,000 and Australian Golf Digest, up 8.1 per cent to 157,000.

Motorcycle magazines also saw an increase over the last year, up a stunning 19.3 per cent to 231,000 with three of the four magazines in the category increasing their readership. The most widely read motorcycle magazine is Australian Motorcycle News with a readership of 104,000, while there were increases for Australian Adventure Bike Magazine, with readership more than doubling, up a massive 107.5 per cent to 72,000, Dirt Action, up 26.7 per cent to 64,000 and Road Rider, up 5.9 per cent to 50,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly included Vogue Australia, up 4.1 per cent to 479,000, Diabetic Living, up 14.9 per cent to 316,000, WellBeing, up 6.6 per cent to 260,000, Healthy Food Guide, up 11.7 per cent to 178,000, PC PowerPlay, up a stunning 41.2 per cent to 122,000, MindFood, up 7.3 per cent to 101,000, Prevention, up 25 per cent to 95,000 and Homespun, up 1.7 per cent to 77,000.

Total cross-platform audiences* for leading magazines Better Homes and Gardens, Woman’s Day and The Australian Women’s Weekly all exceed more than 1.5 million people

Ten Australian magazines have cross-platform audiences over 1 million people led by Are Media’s Better Homes and Gardens with a total cross platform audience of over 2.2 million people ahead of Woman’s Day with an audience just under 2 million people.

The Australian Women’s Weekly has a cross-platform audience of 1.6 million and New Idea has an audience of almost 1.5 million. It is important to note that The Australian Women's Weekly has now launched its own stand-alone website offering a premium lifestyle experience for users which will supercharge the brand for content commerce.

Other magazines with large cross-platform audiences include National Geographic with a total audience over 1.4 million, and Time, Take 5 (weekly), Delicious, TV Week and House & Garden with total audiences well above 1 million.

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 print magazines has held steady over the last year at over 50% of the population with six magazine categories increasing their readership:

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.