A total of 15,117,000 Australians aged 14+ (74.1 per cent) read magazines whether in print or online either via the web or an app. That is up 0.7 per cent, or 110,000, from a year ago according to the results released from the Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to September 2018.
Readership of print magazines was more than 13.6 million Australians aged 14+ (66.8 per cent), down 0.4 per cent, or 57,000, from a year ago. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 50,377 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to September 2018.
Clear majority of Top 15 Magazines grow their Print Readership
Nine of Australia’s Top 15 magazines grew their print readership over the past year, with six of the leading titles growing their readership by at least 5 per cent on a year ago. In addition, the new Take 5 (Monthly) magazine has entered the list as the ninth most widely read magazine in Australia.
Other leading magazines to perform strongly include Women’s Weekly readership up by 4.1 per cent), Royal Auto (+12.9 per cent), Taste.com.au Magazine (+9 per cent), Road Ahead (+8.9 per cent), Australian Geographic (+1.1 per cent), House & Garden (+3.6 per cent) and just outside the Top 15 Gardening Australia was up a stunning 34.2 per cent.
| Publication | Sep 2017 (‘000s) |
Sep 2018 (‘000s) |
% change |
| Coles Magazine | 3,975 | 4,618 | 16.2% |
| Fresh | 3,828 | 4,124 | 7.7% |
| Better Homes & Gardens | 1,728 | 1,623 | -6.1% |
| Women’s Weekly | 1,479 | 1,539 | 4.1% |
| National Geographic | 1,048 | 1,275 | 21.7% |
| Woman’s Day | 1,282 | 1,246 | -2.8% |
| New Idea | 1,094 | 1,038 | -5.1% |
| Open Road (NSW) | 1,052 | 1,030 | -2.1% |
| Take 5 (Monthly)* | – | 736 | – |
| Royal Auto (Vic) | 628 | 709 | 12.9% |
| Taste.com.au Magazine | 612 | 667 | 9.0% |
| Road Ahead (Qld) | 604 | 658 | 8.9% |
| That’s Life | 670 | 621 | -7.3% |
| Australian Geographic | 570 | 576 | 1.1% |
| House & Garden | 521 | 540 | 3.6% |
*Take 5 (Monthly) is an annual figure based of four months of interviewing from June – September 2018 only.
The five most read categories of magazines
- Food & Entertainment (6,648,000 Australians, 32.6% of the population);
- General Interest (4,706,000 Australians, 23.1% of the population);
- Mass Women’s (3,396,000 Australians, 16.7% of the population);
- Home & Garden (2,882,000 Australians, 14.1% of the population);
- Business, Financial & Airline (1,602,000 Australians, 7.9% of the population).
