A total of 16.7 million Australians, or 91 per cent of consumers, read news media in February, according to the latest emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data*.

Digital news media on smartphones, tablets, laptops or PCs was consumed by 13 million Aussies (70 per cent of the population) in February. However, continues to be the preferred platform for readers of news media, at 13.4 million people (72 per cent of the population).

Metro newspapers were read by 11.2 million people (60 per cent) during the month. Regional and community news brands were read by a total of 7.1 million people (38 per cent), with regional newspapers read by 3.2 million people (17 per cent aged 14-plus), while community newspapers were read by 4.1 million (22 per cent aged 14-plus).

The emma data also showed that readers enjoy travelling overseas, with 5.2 million holidaying abroad in the last 12 months. On average, this has grown by 4.6 per cent over each of the past three years.

In addition, 5.8 million news media readers intend to travel overseas on holidays in the next 12 months, which has grown by 5 per cent in 12 months.

Cruising holidays in particular are showing strong growth among news media readers, with 1.9 million intending to take a cruise in the next 12 months – an average increase of 14.6 per cent over each of the last two years.

The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax) was Australia’s highest-reaching title across all platforms in February with 5.5 million readers, followed by News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun with 4.6 million readers and 4 million readers respectively.

 

emma cross-platform readership (000s, last four weeks)	February 2017
The Sydney Morning Herald / smh.com.au	5,509
The Daily Telegraph / thetelegraph.com.au	4,618
Herald Sun / heraldsun.com.au	4,037
The Age / theage.com.au	3,289
Courier-Mail / couriermail.com.au	3,064
The Australian / theaustralian.com.au	2,969
The Australian Financial Review / afr.com.au	1,684
The West Australian / thewest.com.au^	1,641
Adelaide Advertiser / AdelaideNow.com.au	1,633
The Sunday Times / perthnow.com.au	1,403
The Canberra Times / canberratimes.com.au	820
Newcastle Herald / theherald.com.au	575
Gold Coast Bulletin / goldcoast.com.au	477
Sunshine Coast Daily / sunshinecoastdaily.com.au	376
Mercury (Tasmania) / themercury.com.au	344

 

 ^NB: With the recent release of Nielsen’s monthly digital ratings, 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.

*Source: emma, 12 months to February 2017. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to February 2016. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14-plus, Nielsen digital ratings (monthly), February 2017.

Following the introduction of Nielsen digital ratings (monthly) data into emma in February 2016, year-on-year comparisons of digital audiences are now valid from February 2017 onwards.