Under 40s Driving Digital News Readership, But Can’t Beat The Charm Of The Newspaper

We might be living in the digital age but nothing beats a good old fashioned newspaper, standing strong as the favourite way for Aussies to get their news.

New Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (emma) data has shown that while smartphones are fast becoming the new ‘It’ device used to get clued in on current affairs, it is yet to overtake the hard copy newspaper.

Print readership actually fell down five per cent over the past year, yet still managed to nab 77 per cent of the population, some 13.8 million readers, while 11.5 million caught up on news on digital devices.

Readership on mobiles in 2015 has gone up 17 per cent year-on-year to 3.6 million, with the under 40s demographic driving most of the growth and jumping up by 14 per cent.

In the past 12 months, 521,000 new readers used their smartphones to access newspaper media, and while readership of news media on PCs and laptops is still strong at 9.6 million, and tablet readership was steady at three million, the trend is definitely skewed to the smartphone.

“The strong growth in smartphone readership demonstrates the continuing relevance of trusted news brands,” The Newspaper Works CEO Mark Hollands said.

“Print newspapers, however, remain a vital source of news, information and entertainment for 77 per cent of the population.”

According to the emma data to October 2015, The Sydney Morning Herald finishes on top as Australia’s highest reaching title across platforms with a total audience of five million readers. The Daily Telegraph follows with four million and then the Herald Sun on 3.8 million. 

Sources: emmaTM, 12 months to October 2015. Readership based on last four weeks. Trends compared with 12 months to October 2014. Survey conducted by Ipsos MediaCT, people 14+, Nielsen Online Ratings, October 2015 and October 2014, people 14+ only.