Australian Magazine Readership, 12 months to September 2020

The readership estimates below are ‘average issue readership’ (AIR) over a 12 month period, and represent the number, or %, of Australians who read or look into an average issue of the particular publication.

This provides an estimate of the ‘reach’ an advertiser can expect to achieve with advertising placed in the publication.

These print readership estimates do not include the additional Australians who read the publications in their digital form online, via web, mobile or app.

The total reach – ‘cross-platform’ reach is greater than the ‘average issue reach’ of a publication as it includes additional readers and cover a 4 week period, rather than an average issue.

Note: A small number of magazines were temporarily suspended during the June and September 2020 quarters.  These magazines are flagged with an asterisk (*) and do not show readership for the latest quarter, average readership is allocated instead.  The list of magazines affected in this way includes AFL Record, Big League, Qantas Magazine and Virgin Magazine.

Magazine Print Readership Summary - September 2020

Are Media has Australia’s two most widely read paid magazines – Better Homes & Gardens and Australian Women’s Weekly

Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with an average issue print readership of 1,402,000 in the year to September 2020 and is followed by Australian Women’s Weekly with an average issue print readership of 1,151,000. These two Are Media magazines are clearly the most widely read paid magazines in Australia.

In addition National Geographic has retained an impressive average issue print readership of 805,000 followed by Are Media’s Woman’s Day on 723,000 and New Idea on 625,000 while That’s Life Mega Monthly has performed strongly and increased average issue print readership by 1.7 per cent to 410,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly and increase their average issue print readership include 4x4 Australia (+26.7 per cent to 152,000), Vogue Living (+18.4 per cent to 148,000), Inside Sport (+0.9 per cent to 113,000) and Australian Golf Digest (+21.3 per cent to 57,000).

Coles Magazine & Fresh most widely read and Bunnings Magazine read by almost 1.3m

Australia's two most widely read free magazines are again Coles Magazine with an average issue print readership in the year to September 2020 of 4,367,000 and Fresh with a readership of 3,871,000.

Bunnings Magazine is the third most widely read free magazine. It has an average issue print readership in the year to September 2020 of 1,293,000, an impressive increase of 18 per cent on a year ago and making the hardware retailer’s magazine one of only five with an average issue print readership of more than 1 million Australians.

Top 20 Magazines by Print Readership - September 2020

The five most read categories of magazines by average issue print readership

• Food & Entertainment (6,173,000 Australians, 29.4% of the population);
• General Interest (3,559,000 Australians, 16.9% of the population);
• Home & Garden (3,176,000 Australians, 15.1% of the population);
• Mass Women’s (2,755,000 Australians, 13.1% of the population);
• Business, Financial & Airline (998,000 Australians, 4.7% of the population).

Food & Entertainment magazines are the most widely read magazine category and read by nearly 30% of Australians

Food & Entertainment is again Australia's best performing magazine category and is now read by 6,173,000 Australians, or 29.4% of the population – more than 2.5 million ahead of any other category.

The free supermarket titles remain the clear leaders in the category despite not building on the growth of previous years. Coles Magazine with a readership of 4,367,000 is Australia’s most widely read magazine followed by second-placed Woolworth’s Fresh now read by 3,871,000 Australians.

The most widely read paid magazines in the category are Taste.com.au Magazine with a readership of 528,000 and Delicious with a readership of 233,000.

General Interest magazines read by over 1-in-6 Australians is the second most widely read category

3,559,000 Australians, or 16.9% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazine titles and National Geographic is clearly the most widely read paid magazine in the category and is now read by 805,000.

However, the most widely read magazine in the category is the NRMA’s Open Road (NSW) with a readership of 833,000. Fellow motoring magazines Royal Auto (Vic) read by 523,000 and Road Ahead (Qld) read by 477,000 also rate highly in the category.

Other widely read paid magazines in the category include Australian Geographic read by 445,000 and Reader’s Digest Australia read by 366,000.

Home & Garden magazines is the stand-out category with a jump in readership

Home & Garden magazines have grown their audience over the past year up by 1.5 per cent to 3,176,000 Australians – the only magazine category to experience a growth in readership compared to a year ago.

This growth has been powered by the new Bunnings Magazine which launched early in 2019 and is now read by almost 1.3 million Australians, up a large 18% on a year ago.

The leading magazine in the category is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine Better Homes and Gardens (BH&G), with a readership of 1,402,000 and there was also a significant readership increase of 18.4 per cent to 148,000 for Vogue Living.

Other widely read magazines in the category include Gardening Australia read by 359,000, House & Garden read by 358,000, Home Beautiful read by 248,000 and Country Style now read by 207,000.

Mass Women’s magazines invigorated by New Idea Royals and That’s Life Mega Monthly

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by 2,755,000 Australians equal to 13.1 per cent of the population with readership in the category boosted by the launch of new magazines over the last year such as New Idea Royals and the increasing readership of That’s Life Mega Monthly.

New Idea Royals has already attracted an audience of 437,000 to make the new title one of the most widely read paid magazines and That’s Life Mega Monthly has an impressive readership of 410,000, an increase of 1.7 per cent on a year ago.

Australian Women’s Weekly leads the category with a readership 1,151,000 followed by Woman’s Day with 723,000, New Idea with 625,000 and the two widely read Take 5 titles. Take 5 Bumper Monthly is now read by 468,000 and Take 5 (Weekly) is read by 451,000.

Business magazine category is fifth most widely read with a readership of almost 1 million

Overall, the Business, Financial and Airline magazines readership experienced a decrease of 33.8 per cent over the last year to 998,000 (4.7% of the population). The most widely read magazine in the category is the Qantas Magazine with a readership of 263,000 followed by the New Scientist with 222,000 readers.

Other widely read magazines include the Virgin Australia Magazine with a readership of 196,000, Time magazine read by 180,000, Money Magazine read by 117,000 and The Monthly with a readership of 116,000.

4x4 Australia and Australian Golf Digest amongst magazines to increase readership

There were other magazines to increase their readership over the past year outside the leading five magazine categories include 4x4 Australia which increased 26.7 per cent to a readership of 152,000 and Australian Golf Digest up 21.3 per cent to a readership of 57,000.

Also increasing their readership over the past year were Golf Australia which increased its readership by 3.6 per cent to 57,000 and Inside Sport up 0.9 per cent to 113,000.