• 
• Contents
• Chp 1
• Chp 2
• Chp 3
• Chp 4
• Chp 5
• Chp 6
• Chp 7
• Chp 8
• Notes
• Contributors
• About the APC

2. Who's Reading What?

Circulation and Readership of Metropolitan and National Dailies

Circulation of Metropolitan and National Dailies

Circulation for Australia's major metropolitan dailies, when considered in total, has dropped in the last two years. However, the total drop in circulation between June 2006 and June 2008 was only 0.7 per cent. The circulation for many publications is relatively stable, and some newspapers have actually enjoyed an increase in circulation in the same period. The factor that seems to have had the most profound impact on the decline in total circulation is the significant drops suffered by tabloid newspapers. Brisbane's The Courier–Mail, Melbourne's Herald Sun, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph, Adelaide's The Advertiser and The West Australian have all suffered marked reductions in sales in recent years. When the total circulation for tabloids is considered separately from broadsheets the decline has been 3.26 per cent for weekday editions and 4.65 per cent for Saturdays. By contrast, broadsheets have enjoyed an increase of 1.96 per cent for weekday editions. While Saturday broadsheets have suffered a dip in circulation since 2006, it was only 0.37 per cent.

The data reveal a divergence between the trends for Monday to Friday editions and those for weekend editions. Overall circulation of Saturday editions of metropolitan dailies dropped by approximately 46,500 (1.55 per cent) across the board between June 2007 and June 2008, compared with a drop of less than 20,000 (0.88 per cent) for Monday to Friday editions in the same period. While there may be other factors contributing to this discrepancy, it seems likely that the causal element is the traditional significance of classified advertising as a motivator for purchasing a Saturday paper, together with the ever–increasing shift of classified advertising to the Web. Sunday editions, which have the highest circulation of the metropolitans, have also continued to suffer the most significant declines in recent years, losing four per cent in sales between June 2006 and June 2008.

By way of comparison, circulation of US dailies has dropped by 2.5 per cent and circulation of US Sunday editions has dropped by about 3.5 per cent every year for the last three years. [1]

Graph 2.1 Circulation: Metropolitan Dailies 2002–2008

Graph 2.2 Circulation: Tabloids versus Broadsheets, Monday to Friday 2002–2008

Graph 2.3 Circulation: Tabloids v Broadsheets, Saturdays 2002–2008

Table 2.1 Circulation: Metropolitan/national dailies Monday–Friday

Title	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
TOTAL	2,267,258	2,287,473	2,307,674	2,302,621	2,323,850	2,341,112	2,340,004
The Australian	136,000	133,000	131,538	133,841	133,711	132,213	130,378
The Financial Review	89,329	88,264	86,182	85,373	85,366	85,120	88,674
The Canberra Times	34,068	33,935	36,027	36,695	38,155	38,813	38,694
The Daily Telegraph	385,000	392,000	396,497	397,915	403,127	407,498	406,200
The Sydney Morning Herald	212,500	212,700	212,078	210,085	216,827	225,737	228,800
The Age	208,000	207,000	201,000	193,000	198,500	197,700	197,700
The Herald Sun	530,000	535,000	554,700	551,500	551,100	550,032	548,764
The Courier-Mail	217,575	221,049	216,075	211,279	214,814	219,451	215,371
The Advertiser	189,668	191,325	195,903	201,323	202,135	204,502	203,582
The West Australian	195,033	203,328	205,610	207,914	205,362	205,266	207,793
The Mercury	46,758	46,985	48,886	49,601	50,382	50,368	49,895
The N.T. News	21,319	20,880	21,172	22,090	22,367	22,409	22,151

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations

Table 2.2 Circulation: Metropolitan/National Dailies Saturday

Title	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
Total	2,954,711	3,001,264	3,048,559	3,061,270	3,099,837	3,131,834	3,137,666
The Australian	301,000	299,500	293,966	291,752	300,360	295,168	297,158
The Financial Review	92,415	92,194	90,998	89,360	87,680	86,679	90,320
The Canberra Times	59,939	63,115	67,371	68,743	71,049	72,835	72,080
The Daily Telegraph	327,000	340,000	342,724	342,657	341,240	341,062	335,388
The Sydney Morning Herald	358,224	364,000	363,901	360,323	373,750	391,678	399,455
The Age	301,500	301,000	301,000	297,500	304,200	315,250	318,900
The Herald Sun	510,500	513,000	522,400	523,500	521,000	517,650	515,598
The Courier-Mail	309,602	316,662	326,825	333,910	342,253	346,445	343,323
The Advertiser	256,063	259,807	269,695	274,364	278,385	281,117	280,490
The West Australian	342,787	356,844	372,608	380,417	381,079	384,976	385,871
The Mercury	61,813	61,985	63,554	64,297	64,905	65,194	65,308
The N.T. News	31,860	31,150	31,511	32,442	31,932	31,777	31,773

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations

Table 2.3 Circulation: Metropolitan/national Sundays

Title	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002
Total	3,321,274	3,387,774	3,455,642	3,481,260	3,481,260	3,481,260	3,481,260
The Canberra Times	34,316	34,674	36,892	37,844	38,877	39,161	39,075
The Sun-Herald	483,220	505,000	516,394	514,542	524,777	542,735	559,725
The Sunday Telegraph	663,000	671,500	702,125	720,030	726,153	734,021	726,906
The Sunday Age	227,500	225,000	210,000	200,000	194,500	194,500	199,350
Sunday Herald Sun	622,000	620,000	623,000	620,000	603,000	582,630	570,647
The Sunday Mail (Qld)	565,173	592,440	607,975	615,920	615,328	611,298	601,851
The Sunday Mail (SA)	313,469	318,179	324,973	330,998	334,872	340,667	345,407
The Sunday Times	328,000	336,500	347,500	354,000	354,000	352,000	346,037
The Sunday Tasmanian	59,930	60,134	61,391	61,110	59,720	59,227	58,245
The Sunday Territorian	22,658	22,340	23,386	24,811	24,535	25,422	27,083

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations

Readership of Metropolitan and National Dailies

As noted above, readership figures do not necessarily correlate with patterns of data for circulation. In spite of any anomalies, overall readership results in recent years have tended to show similar patterns in audience participation that can be observed in circulation data. However, there are some curious differences. Between 2007 and 2008 circulation as reported by the ABC declined while readership, as reported by Roy Morgan, increased. This difference was particularly noticeable in the data for Saturday editions. In spite of the sharp declines in circulations of Saturday editions noted above, readership is reported to have increased by approximately 19,000 or 0.18 per cent between 2007 and 2008.

While the data for Saturday editions may be somewhat anomalous, the data for weekday readership indicate continuing, overall stability over the last eight years, with the total dropping by 0.56 per cent in 2007 and then recovering in 2008. As with circulation, the readership of broadsheet newspapers has been lower in total than that of tabloids. However, weekday readership of broadsheets has been more stable over the last four years than tabloids and both Saturday and weekday broadsheets have enjoyed increases in readership between 2007 and 2008. Readership gains for broadsheets account for almost all increases in total readership in the 2007-2008 period.

Between June 2006 and June 2008 readership for Sunday papers dropped by 2.4 per cent, continuing the ongoing decline that has persisted since 2003. The continuing drop in readership is consistent with the decline in Sunday circulations.

Graph 2.4 Readership Metropolitan Dailies 2001–2008

Graph 2.5 Readership– Tabloids v Broadsheets, Mon–Friday 2001–2008

Graph 2.6 Readership– Tabloids v Broadsheets, Saturdays 2001–2008

Graph 2.7 Readership– Tabloids v Broadsheets, Sundays 2001–2008

Table 2.4 Readership of metropolitan and national dailies June 2001 to June 2008 Mondays to Fridays (in thousands)

Title	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001
TOTAL	9,023	8,951	9,002	9,012	8,990	9,081	9,037	8,908
The Australian	471	449	416	416	420	459	428	430
The Financial Review	262	258	268	270	275	296	287	291
The Daily Telegraph	1,140	1,158	1,183	1,194	1,132	1,224	1,211	1,151
The Sydney Morning Herald	954	893	876	883	856	895	897	817
The Canberra Times	110	103	122	129	119	121	111	118
The Herald Sun	1,480	1,467	1,523	1,484	1,553	1,487	1,508	1,522
The Age	752	749	724	721	706	700	676	649
The Courier-Mail	646	614	596	616	626	606	585	594
The Advertiser	503	542	573	564	569	584	580	576
The West Australian	589	583	584	606	599	576	621	627
The Mercury	108	128	131	124	131	130	131	132

Source: Roy Morgan Research

Table 2.5 Readership: Metropolitan/national dailies Saturdays (in thousands)

Title	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001
TOTAL	10,305	10,286	10,436	10,584	10,658	10,888	11,004	10,851
The Australian	872	824	843	870	874	917	911	901
The Financial Review	164	154	181	162	176	178	188	192
The Daily Telegraph	931	964	981	982	895	982	996	937
The Sydney Morning Herald	1,185	1,176	1,176	1,206	1,255	1,331	1307	1279
The Canberra Times	165	160	178	190	174	180	179	188
The Herald Sun	1,448	1,404	1,384	1,409	1,445	1,404	1464	1424
The Age	959	954	960	988	992	1009	1070	1059
The Courier-Mail	888	874	870	891	941	941	940	935
The Advertiser	638	691	734	732	725	752	741	731
The West Australian	904	925	969	998	1022	1035	1045	1044
The Mercury	143	153	154	151	155	156	161	160

Source: Roy Morgan Research

Table 2.6 Readership: Metropolitan/national Sundays (in thousands)

Title	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001
TOTAL	10,534	10,697	10,796	11,004	10,911	11,025	10,989	11,023
The Sunday Telegraph	1,723	1,785	1,818	1,891	1796	1949	1924	1914
The Sun Herald	1,326	1,362	1,354	1,421	1429	1492	1519	1530
The Canberra Times	98	94	103	112	105	109	103	108
The Sunday Herald Sun	1,546	1,523	1,531	1,583	1589	1508	1530	1478
The Sunday Age	729	732	699	652	665	654	659	660
The Sunday Mail (Qld)	1,419	1,473	1,493	1,492	1487	1494	1418	1465
The Sunday Mail (SA)	739	739	790	790	785	783	807	804
The Sunday Times (WA)	817	840	854	916	912	897	890	922
The Sunday Tasmanian	129	142	148	142	139	136	137	141

Source Roy Morgan Research

The State of the News Print Media of Australia Report 2008
© copyright Australian Press Council | published 18 December 2008
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