Australian readers ‘accessing multiple news brands’ as competition tightens

BY Nathan Jolly

August 19, 2024 9:18

Australian readers ‘accessing multiple news brands’ as competition tightens

The vast majority of Australian news consumers are spreading their allegiances across at least four different publications, with less than 1% of paying readers cancelling their subscriptions, despite the current conditions.

According to Roy Morgan’s Total News Publishing figures, monthly readership has grown to an incredible 21.7 million Australians aged 14+, with 90% of these accessing up to four different titles. 64% of readers access news from at least three different content categories.

News.com.au boasts the most readers, according to the Roy Morgan survey, capturing 52% of the total readership, some 11.6 million each month.

Nine.com.au followed, with 42% of readership, followed by ABC News, with 37%.

The Sydney Morning Herald is the widest-read multi-format publication, with its Monday to Friday print edition recording an average issue readership of 381,000, while Saturday’s print edition recorded 477,000 readers.

In the last four weeks, 1.47 million people on average have read a print edition of the Herald, while The Sun Herald print edition is read by 395,000 people every Sunday.

The most pleasing statistic for the news industry is that less than 1% of news readers stopped paying for access in the last quarter.

ThinkNewsBrand points out that, according to National Australia Bank data, 37% of Australians cut back on a streaming service in the March quarter, and 33% on subscriptions for magazines, apps and other goods and products.

“Continuing to seek out news in a cost-of-living crisis really proves the importance Australians place on it,” explains Vanessa Lyons, CEO of ThinkNewsBrands.

“It also signifies the habitual relationship readers have with news and the reliable, regular, deeply engaged audiences it can provide advertisers.”

“Audiences aren’t scrolling past news; they’re accessing multiple news brands and content categories every month with repeated interactions.

“At a time when ROI has never been more important, the data shows news delivers the prosperous and ready to buy audiences that can make marketing campaigns a success.”