EMMA: Print same same, but digital making a difference

The first new set of monthly Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (EMMA) readership data has been released today, with print showing marginal declines in readership, compensated by a spike in website visits.

While the first EMMA data released last month covered the overlapping 12-month period to June 2013, the latest release is for the year to July 2013, with the major publishers posting steady if unspectacular results.

The Newspaper Works, which commissioned the survey together with Ipsos, has said the first monthly EMMA data “shows stability in the newspaper audiences", while Fiorella Di Santo, News Corp Australia’s group sales director, added: “Today’s release of EMMA data confirms the continued growth of newspaper audiences across print and online".

See the rationale behind the new EMMA metrics here

So do the latest EMMA figures match the positive commentary?

While no print masthead plunged off the proverbial cliff, most have continued to leak readers.

Fairfax and News Limited did manage to get two of their Sunday offerings into the black (Herald Sun, +0.34%, Sunday Herald Sun, +0.8%).

The Saturday Sydney Morning Herald suffered the biggest drop, down 2.4%, while the Monday to Friday Australian Financial Review finished top of its class with a 1.28% spike in readership. The Australian weekday (-1.67%) and weekend (-1.89%) struggled, while the Monday to Friday SMH fared little better, down 1.22%

The Sunday Telegraph (-0.73%) remains the nation's most read newspaper.

“There are two things to keep in mind in analysing these numbers. Firstly, we are looking at incremental change from the previous EMMA numbers, rather than year-on-year. So, the movements tend to be smaller,” explained research & insights manager at The Newspaper Works, Simon Baty, adding that total cross platform audiences are measured over a period of a month.

New EMMA montly newspaper readership data:

It's similar story with regard to EMMA’s magazine data, with the majority titles experiencing minimal drops in readership, but with a number increasing their numbers.

Better Homes and Gardens (+1.17%) extends it lead at the top of the most read mag in Australia table, followed by Australian Women’s Weekly (-0.45) and Women’s Day (-0.66%). Shop Till You Drop saw the biggest slide (-5.23%), while Men’s Health (+3.84%), Take 5 (1.24%), and Super Food Idea (+1.25%) all enjoyed an uptick in readership.

New EMMA montly magazine readership data:

The monthly EMMA figures also include digital numbers for mastheads, although these are taken from responses over the past four weeks, rather than the whole year, so Nielsen online data can be ported on top of them aggregating print, web, mobile and tablet.

For newspapers, there was somegood news on the total masthead front, with most securing increases. The figures show the SMH stayed on top with a total audience of 4,719, which jumped from 4.543m in the last EMMA release.

The Herald Sun has 4.168m total masthead readers, Daily Telegraph has 4.094m, The Age has 3.337m, The Australian 3.126m,The Courier Mail 2.834m, The west Australian 1.998m, the Adelaide Advertiser 1.459m and The Australian Financial Review 1.338m. All of these represent increases, except in the case of The West Australian

For magazines, including digital editions, Woman’s Day reached nearly 3.854m people, New Idea 3.588m (up from 3.499m), AWW 2.712m and Better Homes 2.531m.

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