2.8 million New Zealanders now read newspapers and almost 1.7 million read magazines
Roy Morgan readership results for New Zealand’s newspapers and magazines for the 12 months to June 2023.
Nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders aged 14+, 2.76 million (65.8%), now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition, 1.69 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (40.2%) 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 6,524 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to June 2023.
New Zealand Herald read by over 1.7 million while Southland Times is the big improver
New Zealand’s most widely read publication is again the New Zealand Herald with a total cross-platform audience of 1,747,000 in the 12 months to June 2023 – almost five times as many as the second placed Dominion Post with a readership of 363,000.
There were two top ten titles to grow their total cross-platform audiences led by the fifth placed Waikato Times, up 16,000 (+8.6%) to 203,000 and the Taranaki Daily News, up 6,000 (+5.1%) to 124,000.
Filling out the top five are the Otago Daily Times in third place with an audience of 264,000 readers just ahead of The Press in fourth place on 250,000.
Other newspapers to increase their total cross-platform audiences during 2022-23 included the Manawatu Standard, up 22,000 (+23.4%) to 116,000, the Rotorua Daily Post, up 8,000 (+8.2%) to 105,000, the Southland Times, up 27,000 (+35.1%) to 104,000, the Sunday News, up 17,000 (+22.7%) to 92,000, the Nelson Mail, up 7,000 (+9.3%) to 82,000, the Gisborne Herald, up 1,000 (+1.4%) to 71,000 and the Ashburton Guardian, up 1,000 (+2.5%) to 41,000.
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 2022 | June 2023 | June 2022 | June 2023 | June 2022 | June 2023 | % Change | |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| New Zealand Herald | 510 | 477 | 1,560 | 1,535 | 1,800 | 1,747 | -2.9% |
| Dominion Post | 174 | 138 | 264 | 275 | 379 | 363 | -4.2% |
| Otago Daily Times | 94 | 84 | 229 | 214 | 287 | 264 | -8.0% |
| The Press | 129 | 130 | 175 | 173 | 251 | 250 | -0.4% |
| Waikato Times | 80 | 77 | 131 | 139 | 187 | 203 | 8.6% |
| Sunday Star-Times | 155 | 138 | 45 | 61 | 190 | 187 | -1.6% |
| Hawke’s Bay Today | 77 | 65 | 123 | 122 | 178 | 171 | -3.9% |
| Northern Advocate | 62 | 53 | 110 | 113 | 154 | 147 | -4.5% |
| Bay of Plenty Times | 63 | 56 | 111 | 100 | 154 | 146 | -5.2% |
| Taranaki Daily News | 43 | 37 | 95 | 104 | 118 | 124 | 5.1% |
New Zealand Listener, NZ Woman’s Day and Habitat all increase their print readership in 2022-23
New Zealand’s most widely read magazine is the driving magazine AA Directions which had an average issue readership of 338,000 during the year to June 2023.
One of the four magazines to increase their readership in the last year was the clearly second-placed New Zealand Listener with an average issue readership of 208,000, up 10,000 on a year ago.
The other three widely read magazines to increase their readership were NZ Woman’s Day which increased its readership by 25,000 to 145,000, Habitat, which was up 7,000 to 108,000 and Air New Zealand’s inflight magazine KiaOra which more than doubled its readership, up by a large 63,000 to 107,000 as New Zealand’s borders re-opened and flights began to return to pre-COVID conditions.
Other widely read magazines included TV Guide with a readership of 152,000, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) on 127,000, NZ Gardener on 86,000, Dish on 83,000, Cuisine on 82,000 and NZ House & Garden also on 82,000.
Other magazines to grow their readership during the year to June 2023 included Fish & Game NZ, which more than doubling its readership and was up 36,000 to 71,000, NZ Life & Leisure, up 11,000 to 64,000, Consumer, up 7,000 to 59,000, Home NZ, up 17,000 to 58,000, Property Press, up 8,000 to 53,000, Good, up 10,000 to 47,000, National Geographic, up 10,000 to 47,000, Reader’s Digest, up 16,000 to 44,000, Your Home & Garden, up 8,000 to 43,000, NZ Fashion Quarterly, up 1,000 to 43,000, Metro, up 5,000 to 36,000 and Rugby News, up 11,000 to 31,000.
New Zealand’s Top 10 Magazines by Average Issue Print Readership
| Publication | June 2022 | June 2023 | % Reach Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| AA Directions* | 345 | 338 | -0.2% |
| New Zealand Listener* | 198 | 208 | 0.3% |
| TV Guide* | 152 | 152 | 0.0% |
| NZ Woman’s Day* | 120 | 145 | 0.6% |
| Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition)* | 132 | 127 | -0.2% |
| Habitat* | 101 | 108 | 0.2% |
| KiaOra (Air NZ inflight magazine) | 44 | 107 | 1.6% |
| NZ Gardener* | 89 | 86 | 0.0% |
| Dish* | 91 | 83 | -0.2% |
| Cuisine | 84 | 82 | 0.0% |
AA Directions is on top but Fish & Game NZ and New Zealand Listener lead audience growth
AA Directions is still easily New Zealand’s most widely read magazine with a market-leading total cross-platform audience of 418,000– well over 150,000 ahead of any other magazine.
The second most widely read New Zealand Listener increased its total cross-platform audience by 9,000 to 245,000 while the third most widely read NZ Woman’s Day, up 11,000 to 196,000.
However, the largest increase over the last year was for Fish & Game NZ which more than doubled its print readership, and this powered an increase in its cross-platform audience of 24,000 to 136,000.
Other leading magazines with strong cross-platform audiences of over 130,000 include Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) on 170,000, TV Guide on 169,000, Dish on 158,000, Habitat on 147,000, NZ Woman’s Weekly on 140,000 and NZ House & Garden on 136,000.
Top 10 Magazines – Total Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)
| Publication | Digital (web or app) | Total Cross-Platform Audience* (print, web or app) | |||||
| June 2022 | June 2023 | June 2022 | June 2023 | June 2022 | June 2023 | % Change | |
| ‘000 | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| AA Directions | 345 | 338 | 169 | 161 | 436 | 418 | -4.1% |
| New Zealand Listener | 198 | 208 | 71 | 68 | 236 | 245 | 3.8% |
| NZ Woman’s Day/ Now to Love | 120 | 145 | 91 | 72 | 185 | 196 | 5.9% |
| Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) | 132 | 127 | 71 | 55 | 185 | 170 | -8.1% |
| TV Guide | 152 | 152 | 62 | 38 | 191 | 169 | -11.5% |
| Dish | 91 | 83 | 113 | 111 | 179 | 158 | -11.7% |
| Habitat | 101 | 108 | 73 | 55 | 157 | 147 | -6.4% |
| NZ Woman’s Weekly/ Now to Love | 76 | 76 | 91 | 72 | 154 | 140 | -9.1% |
| Fish & Game NZ | 35 | 71 | 81 | 80 | 112 | 136 | 21.4% |
| NZ House & Garden | 86 | 82 | 90 | 66 | 162 | 136 | -16.0% |
Canvas is easily the most widely read Newspaper Inserted Magazine in 2023
The New Zealand Herald’s Canvas(North Island) was clearly the most widely read Newspaper Inserted Magazine over the past year with a readership of 172,000 – over 25 per cent higher than any other magazine.
In a clear second place is the widely read Sunday Magazine with a readership of 137,000.
There was not much to separate the next three magazines – only 11,000 between the third most widely read Viva (North Island) with a readership of 116,000, Weekend (North Island) with a readership of 110,000 and Your Weekend with a readership of 105,000.
New Zealand’s Leading Newspaper Inserted Magazines by Print Readership
| Publication | June 2022 | June 2023 | % Reach Change |
| ‘000s | ‘000s | % | |
| Canvas (North Island) | 243 | 172 | -1.7% |
| Sunday Magazine | 145 | 137 | -0.2% |
| Viva (North Island) | 146 | 116 | -0.7% |
| Weekend (North Island) | 153 | 110 | -1.1% |
| Your Weekend | 122 | 105 | -0.4% |
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:
“The latest Roy Morgan readership figures for New Zealand show nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders, 2.76 million (65.8% 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 well over 1.7 million and is read by almost five times as many people as the second placed Dominion Post – read by over 363,000.
“The last year has been a challenging one for New Zealand as the country gradually emerged from pandemic-era restrictions but soon faced a new challenge of high inflation. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) responded to the challenge of inflation by raising interest rates rapidly between October 2021 and May 2023 by a total of 5.25% from 0.25% to 5.5%.
“The twin pressures of inflation and rising interest rates have had an impact as New Zealand’s economy contracted in both the December qtr. 2022 (-0.6%) and the March qtr. 2023 (-0.1%) – this is the third straight year New Zealand has experienced at least one quarter of negative growth.
“However, despite the economic pressures of the last year there have been bright spots for several newspapers with nine increasing their cross-platform audiences over the last year including the Waikato Times (+8.6%), the Taranaki Daily News (+5.1%), Manawatu Standard (+23.4%), Rotorua Daily Post (+8.2%), Southland Times (+35.1%), Sunday Times (+22.7%), Nelson Mail (+9.3%), Gisborne Herald (+1.4%) and the Ashburton Guardian (+2.5%).
“Despite the challenges of the four years the audiences for New Zealand’s magazines are consistent and in the year to June 2023 almost 1.7 million New Zealanders (40.2% of the population aged 14+) read magazines whether in print or online either via the web or an app.
“The five most widely read magazines dominate both the print readership and cross-platform audience figures filling the top five spots in both rankings. AA Directions with a print readership of 338,000 and a total cross-platform audience of 418,000 is the most widely read magazine in New Zealand once again.
“In second spot on both rankings is New Zealand Listener with a print readership of 208,000 and a cross-platform audience of 245,000. However, the biggest increase among the top five magazines over the last year was for NZ Woman’s Day which increased its print readership by an impressive 25,000 to 145,000 and increased its cross-platform audience by 11,000 to 196,000.
“The other magazines to maintain their leading positions in the overall market include the TV Guide with a print readership of 152,000 and a total cross-platform audience of 169,000 and Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 127,000 and a cross-platform audience of 170,000.
“There were two standout magazines worth highlighting that more than doubled their print readership over the last year. Air New Zealand’s inflight magazine Kia Ora increased its readership from 44,000 to 107,000 – an increase of 63,000 (up 143%) as New Zealanders returned to travel with COVID-19 restrictions easing.
“Fish & Game NZ has also experienced a rapid increase in print readership, up from 35,000 to 71,000 – an increase of 36,000 (+103%) in a year. The increase in print readership powered an increase in the total cross-platform audience for Fish & Game NZ to 136,000 and into the top ten of New Zealand’s most widely read magazines for the first time in ninth position.
“Despite the pressures faced by many so far during 2023 there are significant bright spots with many newspapers and magazines holding their own and increasing their audiences over the last year. These magazines and newspapers continue to provide interesting and relevant content that engages with their audiences and provides a direct line to hard-to-find consumers.”
Related research findings
Download our latest profiles of New Zealanders who read different Newspapers or Magazines.
To learn more about Roy Morgan’s Readership results for New Zealand 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.
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 |
