Newspaper media continues to achieve strong mobile phone and tablet audience growth, while print remains the most popular means of accessing newspaper content, according to the latest emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data for the 12 months to June 2015.
Last month’s results were equally as positive, with news newspaper media is reaching nearly all Aussies.
Mobile phone and tablet readership is particularly strong, respectively growing 16 per cent and 3 per cent (up 431,000 and 76,000) year-on-year (YOY) to now reach 3.1 million and 2.7 million Australians over a four-week period. Desktop/laptop PC readership also continues to rise, up 2 per cent or 191,000 readers YOY.
Across print and digital platforms newspaper media reaches 16.4 million Australians over a four-week period, up 1 per cent from 16.3 million a year ago. Digital readership grew 3 per cent (YOY) to 11.6 million while print readership eased 4 per cent to 13.8 million readers.
Newspaper media reaches 92 per cent of Australia’s metropolitan population, and nine in 10 adults aged 14 and over.
The PC is still the most popular digital platform among all major age groups, reaching 53 per cent of under-25s, 57 per cent of 25-39s, 65 per cent of 40-54s, and 54 per cent of people 55+.
Mobile reading is skewed towards younger readers, reaching 20 per cent of under-25s and 34 per cent of 25-39s over a four-week period, compared with 16 per cent of 40-54s and 3 per cent of people 55+.
Tablet reading has an older age skew. Only 10 per cent of under-25s consume newspaper content on tablets, compared with 21 per cent of 25-39s, 20 per cent of 40-54s, and 10 per cent of people 55+.
“The continued growth of digital readership – particularly on smartphones – shows newspapers are meeting Australians’ desire for news on-the-go,” said The Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands.
“The latest emma data confirms the enduring popularity of print, with nearly 14 million consuming newspaper content in that format over a four-week period.
“Across print and digital platforms, six Australian mastheads each reach more than two million readers over four weeks, and another four reach more than one million – an impressive achievement in our fragmented landscape. It confirms newspapers’ influential place in Australians’ media mix.”
The Sydney Morning Herald again achieved Australia’s highest cross platform reach with a total audience of 5.11 million readers followed by The Daily Telegraph with 4.12 million and the Herald Sun on 3.87 million.
| Cross platform readership (last four weeks) | emma June 2015 (000s) |
| Sydney Morning Herald / smh.com.au | 5,105.7 |
| Daily Telegraph / dailytelegraph.com.au | 4,124.6 |
| Herald Sun / heraldsun.com.au | 3,872.8 |
| The Age / theage.com.au | 3,084.9 |
| Courier-Mail / couriermail.com.au | 2,950.1 |
| The Australian / theaustralian.com.au | 2,927.4 |
| West Australian / thewest.com.au | 1,720.6 |
| Adelaide Advertiser / adelaidenow.com.au | 1,449.0 |
| Australian Financial Review / afr.com | 1,372.6 |
| Sunday Times / perthnow.com.au | 1,350.9 |
| Canberra Times / canberratimes.com.au | 699.2 |
| Gold Coast Bulletin / goldcoast.com.au | 452.1 |
| Mercury (Tas) / themercury.com.au | 362.9 |
| Sunshine Coast Daily / sunshinecoastdaily.com.au | 356.9 |
| Northern Territory News / ntnews.com.au | 337.6 |
The Herald Sun (Monday-Friday) continues to have the largest average issue readership with 1.29 million followed by The Sunday Telegraph (1.13 million), the Saturday Herald Sun (1.08 million), the Sunday Herald Sun (1.03 million) and the Monday-Friday Daily Telegraph (983,000). The Saturday Newcastle Herald is the most-read regional newspaper with 145,000 readers, followed by its daily counterpart with 132,000.
| Average issue readership June 2015 | emma June 2015Total 000s |
| Herald Sun (M-F Av) | 1286.0 |
| Sunday Telegraph | 1125.3 |
| Herald Sun (Sat) | 1076.9 |
| Sunday Herald Sun | 1030.0 |
| Daily Telegraph (M-F Av) | 983.4 |
| Sunday Mail (QLD) | 825.9 |
| Daily Telegraph (Sat) | 784.1 |
| Sydney Morning Herald (Sat) | 739.5 |
| Sydney Morning Herald (M-F Av) | 669.0 |
| Sun-Herald | 660.8 |
| Courier-Mail (Sat) | 632.6 |
| Courier-Mail (M-F Av) | 622.8 |
| Weekend West | 615.5 |
| Weekend Australian | 580.6 |
| The Age (Sat) | 576.5 |
| West Australian (M-F Av) | 573.1 |
| The Age (M-F Av) | 558.4 |
| Sunday Times | 478.8 |
| Sunday Age | 464.3 |
| Sunday Mail (SA) | 460.4 |
| Saturday Advertiser | 450.2 |
| The Australian (M-F Av) | 449.3 |
| Adelaide Advertiser (M-F Av) | 442.6 |
| Financial Review (M-F Av) | 291.0 |
| Newcastle Herald (Sat) | 144.9 |
| Newcastle Herald (M-F Av) | 132.4 |
| Financial Review (Weekend edition) | 112.9 |
| Mercury on Saturday (Tas) | 112.6 |
| Gold Coast Bulletin (M-F Av) | 110.1 |
| Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin | 108.1 |
| Mercury (Tas) (M-F Av) | 102.5 |
| The Saturday Paper | 99.9 |
| Canberra Times (Sat) | 97.0 |
| Canberra Times (M-F Av) | 96.7 |
| Sunday Tasmanian | 96.3 |
| Townsville Bulletin (M-F Av) | 87.3 |
| Geelong Advertiser (Sat) | 87.3 |
| Cairns Weekend Post | 83.8 |
| Townsville Bulletin (Sat) | 82.9 |
| Geelong Advertiser (M-F Av) | 76.4 |
| The Examiner (Sat) | 72.2 |
| Cairns Post (M-F Av) | 70.2 |
| The Examiner (M-F Av) | 70.2 |
| Sunday Canberra Times | 67.5 |
| Northern Territory News (Sat) | 67.4 |
| The Star | 65.9 |
| Sunday Examiner | 65.0 |
| Sunshine Coast Daily (M-F Av) | 63.4 |
| Northern Territory News (M-F Av) | 63.4 |
| Chronicle (Sat) | 62.3 |
* Source: emmaTM, 12 months to June 2015. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to June 2014. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+, Nielsen Online Ratings, June 2015 and June 2014, people 14+ only.
