The number of Australians reading print magazines has decreased by 3.8 per cent since December 2019, according to Roy Morgan’s latest Australian Readership report.
Roy Morgan said that 13.1 million Australians aged over 14 years read print magazines in the 12 months to December 2019, while 15.6 million read magazines in print or online (a 0.6 per cent decrease).
CEO Michele Levine said that the results show that readership of magazines is holding strong at over three-quarters of the population (15.6 million) as magazines increase their online offerings:
“The latest results from the Roy Morgan readership survey shows 15.6 million Australians now read magazines whether in print or online with print magazines the favoured channel and now read by almost… 62.8 per cent of [the] population.”
According to the report, the five most-read categories of magazines are:
- Food and Entertainment (6,606,000 Australians, 31.7 per cent of the population);
- General Interest (4,440,000 Australians, 21.3 per cent of the population);
- Home and Garden (3,294,000 Australians, 15.8 per cent of the population);
- Mass Women’s (3,184,000 Australians, 15.3 per cent of the population);
- Business, Financial and Airline (1,439,000 Australians, 6.9 per cent of the population).
Overall, Business, Financial and Airline magazine readership experienced a decrease of 9.5 per cent over the last year.
Despite the overall decline, two magazines in the category did increase their readership over the last year led by Schwartz Media’s politically focused The Monthly, which increased readership by 17.4 per cent to 162,000.
Readership of Virgin Australia Magazine, produced by custom publisher Hardie Grant, increased readership by 4.1 per cent to 227,000. However, Qantas Magazine, published by Medium Rare Content Agency, remains the most widely read magazine in the category with 366,000 readers.
Fishing magazines also had a good year increasing category readership by 5.5 per cent to 308,000 powered by strong performances from leading title Fishing World, up by 39.7 per cent to 243,000 and Fresh Water Fishing Australia increased readership by 68.7 per cent to 113,000.
Other magazines to perform strongly included:
- Healthy Food Guide up 15 per cent to 283,000,
- Fitness First up by 17.4 per cent to 101,000,
- Wellbeing up 9.6 per cent to 148,000,
- Motor up 3.3 per cent to 126,000,
- APC up 12.5 per cent to 72,000 and
- TechLife up 13 per cent to 52,000.
To read the full Roy Morgan Readership report, click here.
