2. Audience
Readership
Readership figures are universally larger than circulation figures, on the basis that newspapers and magazines that come into a household, company or institution are usually read by more than one person. Australian readership figures for large metropolitan newspapers are near the lower end of the range established in international readership surveys, that is, within the range of 3.5 to 4.0 times the circulation.
Updated readership figures for metropolitan newspapers are in the tables below.
Between 2006 and 2007, during the week, four metropolitan newspapers (The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Courier-Mail) increased readership, while The West Australian has remained steady during the week, and the remainder declined. The one national and two state-based broadsheets all showed rises in readership, while the tabloid-format newspapers generally declined. Ironically, the one tabloid that increased in readership, Brisbane's The Courier-Mail, might have done so as a result of its recent conversion from broadsheet to tabloid format. The steady state or loss of readership of Saturday editions of all but the Melbourne Herald Sun and the Brisbane The Courier-Mail in must be causing proprietors concern. The Sydney Morning Herald and the Hobart Mercury were steady state, but others lost ground on Saturdays, some quite dramatically, with the Australian Financial Review, and The Age being in the latter group The Sunday newspapers, outside Sydney and Melbourne, have also had declines.
Readership of metropolitan and national dailies June 2001- June 2007 (000s)
| Title | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Australian | 449 | 416 | 416 | 420 | 459 | 428 | 430 |
| The Financial Review | 258 | 268 | 270 | 275 | 296 | 287 | 291 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 1,158 | 1,183 | 1,194 | 1,132 | 1,224 | 1,211 | 1,151 |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | 893 | 876 | 883 | 856 | 895 | 897 | 817 |
| The Canberra Times | 103 | 122 | 129 | 119 | 121 | 111 | 118 |
| The Herald Sun (Vic) | 1,467 | 1,523 | 1,484 | 1,553 | 1,487 | 1,508 | 1,522 |
| The Age | 749 | 724 | 721 | 706 | 700 | 676 | 649 |
| The Courier-Mail | 614 | 596 | 616 | 626 | 606 | 585 | 594 |
| The Adelaide Advertiser | 542 | 573 | 564 | 569 | 584 | 580 | 576 |
| The West Australian | 583 | 584 | 606 | 599 | 576 | 621 | 627 |
| The Mercury | 128 | 131 | 124 | 131 | 130 | 131 | 132 |
| Title | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Australian | 824 | 843 | 870 | 874 | 917 | 911 | 901 |
| The Financial Review | 154 | 181 | 162 | 176 | 178 | 188 | 192 |
| The Daily Telegraph | 964 | 981 | 982 | 895 | 982 | 996 | 937 |
| The Sydney Morning Herald | 1,176 | 1,176 | 1,206 | 1,255 | 1,331 | 1307 | 1279 |
| The Canberra Times | 160 | 178 | 190 | 174 | 180 | 179 | 188 |
| The Herald Sun (Vic) | 1,404 | 1,384 | 1,409 | 1,445 | 1,404 | 1464 | 1424 |
| The Age | 854 | 960 | 988 | 992 | 1009 | 1070 | 1059 |
| The Courier-Mail | 874 | 870 | 891 | 941 | 941 | 940 | 935 |
| The Adelaide Advertiser | 691 | 734 | 732 | 725 | 752 | 741 | 731 |
| The West Australian | 925 | 969 | 998 | 1022 | 1035 | 1045 | 1044 |
| The Mercury | 153 | 154 | 151 | 155 | 156 | 161 | 160 |
| Title | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sunday Telegraph | 1,785 | 1,818 | 1,891 | 1796 | 1949 | 1924 | 1914 |
| The Sun-Herald | 1,362 | 1,354 | 1,421 | 1429 | 1492 | 1519 | 1530 |
| The Canberra Times | 94 | 103 | 112 | 105 | 109 | 103 | 108 |
| The Sunday Herald Sun | 1,532 | 1,531 | 1,583 | 1589 | 1508 | 1530 | 1478 |
| The Sunday Age | 732 | 699 | 652 | 665 | 654 | 659 | 660 |
| The Sunday Mail (Qld) | 1,473 | 1,493 | 1,492 | 1487 | 1494 | 1418 | 1465 |
| The Sunday Mail (SA) | 739 | 790 | 790 | 785 | 783 | 807 | 804 |
| The Sunday Times (WA) | 840 | 854 | 916 | 912 | 897 | 890 | 922 |
| The Sunday Tasmanian | 142 | 148 | 142 | 139 | 136 | 137 | 141 |
Source Roy Morgan Research
Readership methods being reviewed
Australia's major newspaper publishers launched a review of the readership measurement system in January 2007, managed by the newspaper industry's marketing body, The Newspaper Works, which has retained an independent consultant to advise on the project. The Newspaper Works' CEO, Tony Hale, said the review would examine the latest developments in audience measurement for all types of media in Australia and internationally. According to Tony Hales, the review will examine how newspaper readership data can be improved so that publishers can provide advertisers with the most detailed possible portrait of their audiences. On-line readership is one obvious area where new data is needed to track the expanding reach of newspapers. The review will also explore ways to make readership data more accurate, informative, useful and authoritative and examine the depth with which readers engage with newspapers and how this compares with other forms of media.
In the first stage The Newspaper Works will be working with Roy Morgan Research to identify how to enhance the current system and make better use of the data already being collected.
The second stage of the review will include extensive consultation with all parts of the industry including the , the Advertising Federation of Australia, the Australian Association of National Advertisers and the Magazine Publishers of Australia.
There has been on-going debate between the publishers and Roy Morgan Research about the company's readership measurement techniques, as reported in detail in the State of the News Print Media in Australia Report 2006.