News publishing deeply engrained in Australians’ lives with 21.7m readers and nine in ten engaged by up to four different titles every month
The latest Roy Morgan data shows:
- Total News Publishing readership has grown to an incredible 21.7m Australians aged 14+ each month.
- News consumers are engaging broadly and deeply with 64% reading three or more content categories each month and nine in ten accessing up to four different titles.
- Despite a cost-of-living crisis, less than 1% of news readers stopped paying for access in the last quarter highlighting the resilient and habitual relationship readers have with news.
- Total News Publishing audiences are valuable for advertisers, with high-net-worth Australians 28% more likely to read the news and paying news readers 25% more likely to be big spenders.
News readership has grown to an astonishing number of Australians.
Readership figures from Roy Morgan show news now reaches 21.7m Australians aged 14+ each month, with strong readership across every profile group. Put into perspective, more Aussies read news every week than the number of Australians who drink coffee or milk, showing how entrenched news is in Australians’ lives. These huge audience numbers demonstrate that advertisers can practically target any audience they wish via Total News Publishing.
Australians are going deep and broad, engaged by multiple news publishing titles and categories.
The Roy Morgan data shows the depth and breadth of engagement Australians are having with news, with 67m interactions per week. 91% read up to four titles every month and while General News remains the most read category at 93% of the population there is high readership across other categories. In fact, 64% engage with at least three categories in any given month. These figures hammer home the variety of news publishing content and the highly engaged and attentive audience it provides advertisers.
Despite a cost-of-living crisis, Australians paying for news remains steady.
Further analysis of the Roy Morgan data reveals that despite a cost-of-living crisis, less than 1% of news readers stopped paying for access in the last quarter. This is an incredibly strong result. By comparison, according to National Australia Bank data 37% of Australians cut back on a streaming service in the March quarter and 33% on subscriptions for magazines, apps and other goods and products.
This further highlights the resilient and habitual relationship readers have with news, the importance they place on it and the fact that so many Australians seek it out every day. It also demonstrates the value news provides advertisers by delivering a reliable, regular, deeply engaged audience for marketing activity.
News publishing audiences are more prosperous and ready to buy.
Exploration into audience profiles reveals the high value that news reader audiences represent to advertisers. The data shows that high net worth Australians ($1m+ in total savings and/or investments) are 28% more likely to read the news than the average Australian. It also shows that paying news readers are 24% more likely than the general population to be homeowners, more likely to experiment with new products and services, and 25% more likely to be big spenders. This data signifies the high ROI qualities of news reader audiences.
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 |
