Revealed: The magazines Aussies can’t put down

BY Rosie Drew

August 21, 2024 7:46

Revealed: The magazines Aussies can’t put down

Magazines continue to be a popular source of information amongst Aussies, with Better Homes and Gardens taking the top spot as the nation’s favourite, boasting a readership of over 1.7 million.

Across the country, over 11.5 million people aged 14 and over (51.6%) read magazines, a 0.5% increase compared to last year, according to Roy Morgan data released on Tuesday.

Are Media’s The Australian Women’s Weekly sits at second place, with a readership of 1.2 million, followed by National Geographic, which saw a 9.9% spike in readership numbers in the past year, reaching just over 1 million.

House & Garden, a Condé Nast Publication, also experienced a readership increase of 5.5% from a year earlier to 710,000, placing it fourth on the list, just in front of Woman’s Day in fifth with a readership of 704,000.

Supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles are leading in the free magazine category, with their publications that contain the latest news and promotions, as well as free recipes.

Coles Magazine includes a growing print readership of 5.1 million, up 5.4% from a year ago, just ahead of Fresh Ideas – a Woolworths publication – with 4.8 million.

Bunnings magazine is the third most widely read free magazine with a print readership of 1.9 million, up 9.2% from last year, ahead of the RACQ’s Road Ahead, which rounds out the top four free magazines with a readership of 618,000.

Other magazines to increase their print readership over the past year included Qantas Magazine (up 19.4% to 537,000; Vogue Australia (up 3.8% to 466,000); Reader’s Digest Australia (up 0.3% to 361,000); Delicious (up 12.2% to 319,000); Street Machine (up 0.5% to 313,000); and rounding out the top 25 the Big Issue with an increase of 1% to 290,000.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said the full cross-platform and print readership results for the year to June 2024 show magazines are reaching a large majority of Australians.

“Magazines remain an excellent medium to reach valuable audiences of all ages that have more discretionary income to spend than the average Australian,” she said.

According to the data, print readership also increased for seven magazine categories: food and entertainment; home and garden; general interest; women’s; business, financial and airline; health and family; women’s fashion; sports; music and movies and motorcycle.