Seventy-Five Per Cent Of Aussies Read A Newspaper In August: emma

News media continues to appeal to Aussies – and not just online – if the latest emma data is anything to go by. The stats, released today, claim that 16.8 million people in Australia – or 92 per cent – were reading news media in print or on digital devices in August.

Consumption of news media on digital devices in particular continues to strengthen, with 13.3 million Australians, or 73 per cent, accessing news, information and entertainment content on smartphones, tablets, PCs and laptops.

But as always it’s the newspaper readership – the cursed print medium – that is of most interest, and which appears to be relatively stable. Per emma data, 13.6 million people – or 75 per cent – of the population were reading a newspaper in August.

Metropolitan newspapers were read by 11.3 million people – or 62 per cent – of the population, while regional and community newspapers were read by 7.5 million people.

NewsMediaWorks CEO Mark Hollands said, “The fact that people choose various platforms to consume news media shows that it remains an integral part of their lives and lifestyles and demonstrates why news media is an powerful medium for advertisers to connect with our audiences.

“Three in five readers – or 60 per cent – say they get news from both digital and print sources, well ahead of the number of readers who rely solely on print, at 21 per cent, or digital, at 19 per cent.

“The news media sector continues to be strong, stable and resilient across all platforms. Our industry dominates the national agenda with its influential journalism and large and engaged audiences.”

According to the emma data for the 12 months to August 2016, The Sydney Morning Herald is Australia’s highest-reaching title across all platforms with 6.33 million readers. The Daily Telegraph followed, reaching 4.47 million readers and the Herald Sun on 4.22 million. 

Commenting on the readership survey results, Fairfax Media’s Australian publishing media managing director, Allen Williams, said, “The Sydney Morning Herald continues its record of strong readership reaching 6.3 million people across print and digital in August. It now reaches 1.9 million – or 41 per cent – more people than its nearest competitor.

“Fairfax’s trusted and credible news coverage of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, the ongoing US presidential campaign and continuing local political events and terror threats resulted in strong engagement during August. For the sixth consecutive month, Fairfax’s news and entertainment platforms reached more than 13 million Australians.”

Check out this funky table for more of an overview. 

^NB: With the recent release of Nielsen’s Digital Ratings (Monthly), thewest.com.au’s mobile and tablet audience is under-represented. This is a result of restrictions in Nielsen’s methodology being able to capture iOS mobile secure sessions (HTTPS) due to privacy restrictions inherent to the operating system. This gap will be addressed by Nielsen with the launch of Digital Content Ratings in the coming months.