Over 3 million New Zealanders read newspapers and over 2 million read magazines in 2019

Over 3 million, or 76.5%, of New Zealanders aged 14+ now read or access newspapers in an average 7 day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. Nearly 2.1 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (52.3%) read magazines whether in print or online either via the web or an app.

These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source survey of 6,547 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to December 2019.

Majority of New Zealand’s leading newspapers increase their cross-platform audience

New Zealand’s most widely read publication is again the New Zealand Herald, with a total cross-platform audience of 1,811,000 in the 12 months to December 2019 – read by more than three times as many New Zealanders as any other publication, although this is down 41,000 on a year ago.

Wellington's Dominion Post is in a clear second place with a readership of 487,000, up 0.2% on a year ago, ahead of The Press with 347,000 readers and national weekly The Sunday Star Times with 334,000 readers after increasing by 1.8%.

Several other widely read newspapers increased their cross-platform audience over the past year led by the Otago Daily Times (+22.2%), the Taranaki Daily News (+19.5%), Hawke’s Bay Today (+17.5%) and the Waikato Times (+3.0%).

Top 10 Newspapers – Total Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)

Full Newspaper Readership Results available to view here.

*Cross-Platform Audience is the number of New Zealanders who have read or accessed individual newspaper content via print or online. Print is net readership in an average 7 days. Online is net readership online in an average 7 days.

Six out of New Zealand’s Top 10 magazines increase readership in 2019

New Zealand’s most widely read magazine remains driving magazine AA Directions which has increased its average issue readership by 10,000 to 482,000 over the past year and remains well ahead of NZ Woman’s Day on a readership of 251,000 and New Zealand Listener on 233,000.

There were several strong performers in 2019 with a majority of the top 10 most widely read magazines increasing their readership led by the TV Guide up 8,000 to 212,000.

Other leading magazines to increase their readership included NZ Woman’s Weekly up by 11,000 to 151,000, SkyWatch up 13,000 to a readership of 150,000, NZ Gardener up by 16,000 to a readership of 119,000 and Mindfood which increased its readership by 9,000 to 117,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly include NZ Geographic which increased readership by 13,000 to 78,000, Food which was up 14,000 to a readership of 73,000, Fashion which was up 10,000 to 31,000, Nadia which was up 5,000 to 74,000, NZ Life & Leisure which was up 2,000 to 77,000, Heritage NZ which was up 6,000 to 66,000 and National Geographic which was up 1,000 to 54,000.

New Zealand’s Top 15 Magazines by Average Issue Print Readership

*Roy Morgan has measured additional readership for this magazine via Cross-Platform Audiences – see next section. 

NZ Gardener leads cross-platform* audience growth – up over 20% on a year ago

Of the leading magazines it was NZ Gardener which increased its total cross-platform audience by 29,000, or 21.5%, to 164,000 in the 12 months to December 2019 that had the most impressive performance.

Other leading magazines to increase their cross-platform audiences included Mindfood which grew its cross-platform audience by 27,000 (+17.8%) to 179,000, NZ Woman’s Weekly up 21,000 (+10.1%) to 228,000, TV Guide Magazine up 21,000 (+9.2%) to 250,000 and SkyWatch up 17,000 (+9.4%) to 198,000.

However, despite these notable increases it is motoring magazine AA Directions which is easily New Zealand’s most widely read magazine with a market-leading total cross-platform audience of 541,000, up 10,000 (+1.9%) on a year ago.

Other leading magazines with strong cross-platform audiences include NZ Woman’s Day with an audience of 309,000, New Zealand Listener on 261,000, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) on 211,000 and NZ House & Garden with a steady audience of 176,000.

Top 10 Magazines – Total Cross-Platform Audience (Print & Online)

Full Newspaper Readership Results available to view here.

*Cross-platform audience is the number of New Zealanders who have read or accessed individual magazine content via print or online. Print is average issue readership. Digital is average website visitation and app usage (if available) in last 7 days for weekly titles (National Business Review, New Idea, NZ Listener, NZ Woman's Day, NZ Woman's Weekly, Property Press, That's Life, Time, TV Guide Magazine) and last 4 weeks for all other non-weekly titles. 

Sunday Magazine is standout performer with increase in print readership

The Sunday Magazine is the only leading newspaper inserted magazine to increase its readership over the last year with an increase of 12,000 to an average issue readership of 241,000. This leaves Sunday Magazine as the second most widely read newspaper inserted magazine in New Zealand.

However, despite the increase, it is again the Weekend New Zealand Herald newspaper inserted magazine Canvas (North Island) with an average issue readership of 285,000 that leads the field.

Behind the two market leaders are Weekend (North Island) on 216,000, Your Weekend on 199,000, Bite (North Island) on 174,000 and Viva (North Island) on 163,000.

New Zealand’s Leading Newspaper Inserted Magazines by Print Readership

Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:

“The latest Roy Morgan readership figures for New Zealand show continued strong growth in cross-platform audiences for many of New Zealand’s leading newspapers. Six out of the top ten and 14 out of the top 20 newspapers grew their cross-platform audience in 2019.

“Over 3 million New Zealanders now read or access newspapers in an average 7 day period via print or online (website or app) equivalent to over three-quarters of New Zealanders. Leading the way is the New Zealand Herald with a cross-platform audience of over 1.81 million.

“There were impressive audience increases at several leading newspapers including the Otago Daily Times (+22.2%), Taranaki Daily News (+19.5%) and Hawkes Bay Today (+17.5%). Also growing their cross-platform audiences during 2019 were the Waikato Times (+3%), Sunday Star Times (+1.8%) and Dominion Post (+0.2%).

“In addition to a bright year for many newspapers there have been several good performances with magazine readership compared to a year ago. Now nearly 2.1 million New Zealanders (52.3%) read magazines whether in print or online and six out of the top ten magazines grew their print readership and/or cross-platform audiences during 2019.

“Among the top ten magazines there were increases for NZ Gardener up 16,000 to 119,000, SkyWatch up 13,000 to 150,000, NZ Woman’s Weekly up 11,000 to 151,000, AA Directions up 10,000 to 482,000, Mindfood up 9,000 to 117,000 and the TV Guide up 8,000 to 212,000.”

Download our latest profiles of New Zealanders who read different Newspapers or Magazines.