A total of 16.4 million consumers aged 14+ engage with Australian newspaper content over a four-week period, according to the latest emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data released.
Digital readership continues to rise, up three per cent in the year to August 2015 to reach an average of 11.6 million people monthly.
Print remains the preferred medium for most consumers: 13.9 million Australians read print newspapers in August.
Metropolitan, regional and community newspapers reach 11.6 million, 3.2 million and 5.1 million Australians, respectively, each month.
Mobile continues to grow in popularity, with 3.6 million people consuming newspaper content on mobiles in the latest period, up an impressive 17 per cent year-on-year. Tablet readership grew 3 per cent to 3.1 million.
“That 16.4 million consumers read Australian newspaper content each month in a saturated media environment reflects the essential role of news media brands and the quality of Australian journalism in our society,” The Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands said.
“While mobile audiences continue their steady rise, offering an engaged and highly attractive readership to advertisers, print remains most Australians’ preferred means of consuming newspapers.
“And with 3.2 million Australians reading regional newspapers and 5.1 million reading suburban titles each month, their important and enduring place in communities is clear.”
The Sydney Morning Herald remains Australia’s highest reaching title across platforms with a total audience of 5.11 million readers. The Daily Telegraph followswith 4.12 million and then the Herald Sun on 3.90 million.
| Cross platform readership (last four weeks) | emma August 2015 (000s) |
| Sydney Morning Herald /smh.com.au | 5112.2 |
| Daily Telegraph /thetelegraph.com.au | 4124.6 |
| Herald Sun /heraldsun.com.au | 3899.8 |
| The Age /theage.com.au | 3137.8 |
| The Australian /theaustralian.com.au | 3028.6 |
| Courier-Mail /couriermail.com.au | 2878.5 |
| West Australian / thewest.com.au | 1652.3 |
| Adelaide Advertiser /adelaidenow.com.au | 1585.5 |
| Financial Review / afr.com | 1568.3 |
| Sunday Times /perthnow.com.au | 1308.2 |
| Canberra Times /canberratimes.com.au | 826.4 |
| Northern Territory News /ntnews.com.au | 344.9 |
| Sunshine Coast Daily /sunshinecoastdaily.com.au | 364.1 |
| Mercury (Tas) /themercury.com.au | 316.2 |
The Herald Sun (Monday-Friday) retains the largest average issue readership in Australia with 1.30 million followed by The Sunday Telegraph (1.12 million), the Saturday Herald Sun (1.10 million), the Sunday Herald Sun (1.03 million) and the Monday-Friday Daily Telegraph (987,000). The Saturday Newcastle Herald is the most-read regional newspaper (140,000), with its daily counterpart next at 132,000.
| Average Issue Readership | emma August 2015 (000s) |
| Herald Sun (M-F Av) | 1303 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1123 |
| Herald Sun (Sat) | 1099 |
| Sunday Herald Sun | 1029 |
| Daily Telegraph (M-F Av) | 987 |
| Sunday Mail (QLD) | 823 |
| Daily Telegraph (Sat) | 805 |
| Sydney Morning Herald (Sat) | 715 |
| Sydney Morning Herald (M-F Av) | 664 |
| Sun-Herald | 654 |
| Courier-Mail (M-F Av) | 638 |
| Courier-Mail (Sat) | 637 |
| Weekend West | 627 |
| The Age (Sat) | 590 |
| Weekend Australian | 587 |
| West Australian (M-F Av) | 578 |
| The Age (M-F Av) | 568 |
| Sunday Times | 488 |
| Sunday Age | 474 |
| The Australian (M-F Av) | 454 |
| Sunday Mail (SA) | 453 |
| Saturday Advertiser | 453 |
| Adelaide Advertiser (M-F Av) | 439 |
| Financial Review (M-F Av) | 309 |
| Newcastle Herald (Sat) | 140 |
| Newcastle Herald (M-F Av) | 132 |
| Mercury on Saturday (Tas) | 115 |
| Financial Review (Weekend edition) | 113 |
| Gold Coast Bulletin (M-F Av) | 112 |
| Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin | 108 |
| The Saturday Paper | 101 |
| Mercury (Tas) (M-F Av) | 101 |
| Canberra Times (M-F Av) | 100 |
| Sunday Tasmanian | 97 |
| Canberra Times (Sat) | 97 |
| Townsville Bulletin (M-F Av) | 87 |
| Geelong Advertiser (Sat) | 86 |
| Townsville Bulletin (Sat) | 83 |
| Cairns Weekend Post | 78 |
| Geelong Advertiser (M-F Av) | 75 |
| The Examiner (Sat) | 73 |
| Sunday Canberra Times | 69 |
| The Star | 69 |
| The Examiner (M-F Av) | 68 |
| Northern Territory News (Sat) | 68 |
| Cairns Post (M-F Av) | 68 |
| Sunday Examiner | 67 |
| Border Mail (M-F Av) | 66 |
| Border Mail (Sat) | 65 |
| Illawarra Mercury (Sat) | 65 |
| Illawarra Mercury (M-F Av) | 65 |
* Source: emmaTM, 12 months to August 2015. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to August 2014. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+, Nielsen Online Ratings, August 2015 and August 2014, people 14+ only.
