ThinkNewsBrands and Roy Morgan figures show 96 per cent of Australians remain engaged with news

ThinkNewsBrands and Roy Morgan Total News figures show 20.6 million Australians over the age of 14 engage with news every month.

The latest release of Total News readership shows 96 per cent or 20.6 million Australians continue to consume news in a four-week period.  

The readership figures, produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands, refer to the 12 months to March 2023 and represent news brands across print and digital as well as standalone news websites.

When compared to the same period last year, readership shows a 0.2 per cent decline. This is due to post-Covid demographic shifts and behavioural implications. At the same time, an update was made to Australian population data in the current period. Readership is down across print and digital (-0.7 per cent and -5.8 per cent respectively), although print decline has slowed compared to previous reporting periods.

ThinkNewsBrands executive general manager Vanessa Lyons said: “Every week more Australians read the news than drink coffee or eat fresh vegetables. This readership data reaffirms that news provides a powerhouse of audience engagement and consumer readiness. The figures show that Total News not only delivers guaranteed scale, but also a primed audience ready to buy with 41 per cent of news consumers considered heavy users of the channel.”

This month's results were strong for Nine Publishing, with The Australian Financial Review named the country’s most read premium business masthead )recording a cross platform readership of 3.5 million people), The Age maintaining its lead as Victoria’s most read masthead (with a cross platform readership of 5.2 million), and The Sydney Morning Herald remaining Australia’s most read news brand (with a cross-platform readership of 7.7 million readers).

"After the hit from Covid-19, it's encouraging to see readers return to the newspaper edition of the nation's premium business, finance and political publication,’’ said The Australian Financial Review's editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury.

“That’s an endorsement of the newsroom’s journalism, including our breaking and ongoing pursuit of the PwC tax scandal.

“At the same time, the Financial Review continues to hold the most digitally-focused readership of any newspaper brand as we increase our share of that national market.”