Digital readership of Australian newspapers has exploded over the past year with more than 450,000 additional readers, according to a new survey by industry pollster emma.
Digital readership of Australian newspapers has exploded over the past year with more than 450,000 additional readers, according to a new survey by industry pollster emma.
“Digital readership continues to grow, driven mainly by mobile, with 453,000 additional readers in May 2015, up 15.2% on the same period last year,” said the latest emmaTM (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) report for the 12 months to May 2015. Desktop/laptop and tablet audiences also continued to rise, up 3.5% and 5.0% respectively.
Mobile readership is heaviest among people aged 25-39, with 38% consuming newspaper content on their mobile in the last four weeks, followed by under-25s (23%) and 40-54s (18%).
The survey found that newspapers reach 92% of Australia's metropolitan population – and nine in 10 Australians – every month, but while print readership declined 3.7% year-on-year to 13.9 million readers, digital readership grew by 3.2% to 11.7 million.
“Increasingly people want to access the latest news and information on the go, fuelling continued growth in mobile audiences which largely offsets the gradual decline in print readership,” said Mark Hollands, CEO of newspaper lobby group The Newspaper Works. “However, emma data clearly shows the majority of Australians still prefer their newspaper in print.”
National and metro print newspapers have the highest reach, with 14.3 million readers each month across print and digital platforms.
The Sydney Morning Herald retains Australia’s highest cross platform readership with a total audience of 5.1 million readers, followed by The Daily Telegraph with 4.10 million and the Herald Sun on 4.09 million. About 3.7 million Australians each month read regional newspaper media across all platforms, with 5.3 million reading community newspapers.
Meanwhile, The Australian Financial Review has redesigned its iPad app, with more frequent news updates, new content sections, and a cleaner design. “With two thirds of Australian business leaders accessing their news on a digital platform, it was important to have an app that appealed to them,” said AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury.