In late 2025 over 2.6 million New Zealanders read newspapers and more than 1.6 million read magazines

Roy Morgan readership results for New Zealand’s newspapers and magazines for the 12 months to December 2025.

Of New Zealanders aged 14+ - 60.5%, an estimated 2.66 million, now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition, 38% - an estimated 1.67 million New Zealanders aged 14+, 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 6,364 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to December 2025.

New Zealand Herald is most widely read, and a majority of the top ten titles grew their audiences

In the 12 months to December 2025 New Zealand’s most widely read publication is the New Zealand Herald with a total cross-platform audience of 1,783,000, up 14,000 (+0.8%) on a year ago. Clearly in second place, reaching an audience of 353,000, is The Post, following an increase of 3,000 (+0.9%) on a year ago.

The third placed Otago Daily Times reaches a total cross-platform audience of 293,000, ahead of the fourth-placed The Press, with an audience of 266,000, and the Waikato Times with a total cross-platform audience of 200,000, following an increase of 10,000 (+5.3%) on a year ago.

Two stand-out titles which experienced strong audience growth in audience over the past year were the Northern Advocate, following an increase of 34,000 (+25.6%) on a year ago to 167,000, and the Rotorua Daily Post, up 55,000 (+66.3%) on a year ago to 138,000.

The three other newspapers in the top ten were led by Hawke’s Bay Today with an audience of 180,000, following an increase of 19,000 (+11.8%) on a year ago, the Sunday Star-Times, with an audience of 180,000, and the Bay of Plenty Times with an audience of 153,000.

Top 10 Newspapers – Total 7 Day 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.

21 magazines increased their ‘average issue print readership’ in the year to December 2025

Roy Morgan New Zealand’s latest figures show that 21 of the 45 magazines measured increased their print readership during the year to December 2025 compared to a year earlier.

New Zealand’s most widely read magazine is the driving magazine AA Directions which had an average issue readership of 388,000 in the year to December 2025 – over 150,000 ahead of any other magazine.

In a clear second place for print readership was the New Zealand Listener with an average issue readership of 218,000.

In third place is Fish & Game NZ with a print readership of 130,000, following an impressive increase of 24,000 (+22.6%) on a year ago – the largest increase of any widely read magazine, just ahead of NZ Woman’s Day with a print readership of 123,000.

There are three other magazines with a print readership of over 100,000 including Dish which increased its print readership 11,000 to 114,000, now level with Kia Ora (Air New Zealand’s inflight magazine) on 114,000, and the TV Guide with a print readership of 113,000.

Filling out the top ten most widely read magazines is Cuisine with a print readership of 97,000, up 11,000 on a year ago, Australian Women’s Weekly (NZ Edition) with a print readership of 97,000, and the NZ Gardener with a print readership of 88,000.

Other magazines to grow their readership significantly included NZ Outdoor Hunting, up 21,000 to 53,000, Mindfood, up 20,000 to 79,000, Heritage NZ, up 15,000 to 67,000, NZ Autocar, up 13,000 to 22,000, and Metro, up 10,000 to 43,000.

There were 12 other magazines with increases to their average issue print readership led by NZ Life & Leisure, up 3,000 to a print readership of 71,000, Bunnings Magazine, up 8,000 to 59,000, Your Home & Garden, up 8,000 to 55,000, Kiwi Gardener, up 4,000 to 47,000, National Geographic, up 2,000 to 43,000,  That’s Life, up 4,000 to 42,000, Home NZ, up 1,000 to 42,000, Better Homes & Gardens, up 6,000 to 29,000, Art News NZ, up 4,000 to 28,000, Good, up 2,000 to 28,000, The Shed, up 7,000 to 15,000 and Tots to Teens, up 2,000 to 10,000.

New Zealand’s Top 10 Magazines by Average Issue Print Readership

Full Readership Results for over 40 New Zealand Magazines available to view here.

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

There was strong growth for magazine total cross-platform audiences over the last year with increases for over a dozen leading magazines

Roy Morgan’s latest total cross-platform audience figures for 16 leading magazines show that 15 of these magazines grew their cross-platform audiences compared to a year ago.

AA Directions is still easily New Zealand’s most widely read magazine with a market-leading total cross-platform audience of 509,000 – up 37,000 (+7.8%) from a year ago and with a total cross-platform audience more than double that of any other magazine.

There are two other magazines with audiences of over 200,000 which includes Dish with a total cross-platform audience which increased by 39,000 (+20.9%) to 226,000, and Fish & Game NZ, with a total cross-platform audience of 208,000, up 37,000 (+21.6%) on a year ago.

In fact, every magazine in the top ten most widely read magazines increased their total cross-platform audiences compared to a year ago including fourth placed NZ Woman’s Day, up 1,000 (+0.5%) to 192,000, Mindfood, up 40,000 (+26.7%) to 190,000, NZ Gardener, up 11,000 (+6.6%) to 178,000, Australian Women’s Weekly NZ Edition, up 10,000 (+6.3%) to 170,000, NZ House & Garden, up 11,000 (+7%) to 169,000, TV Guide, up 21,000 (+14.4%) to 167,000, and NZ Woman’s Weekly, now in tenth place overall following an increase of 12,000 (+8.3%) to 156,000.

There were also increases for Kiwi Gardener, up by 24,000 (+22.4%) to 131,000, New Idea, up by 11,000 (+12.9%) to 96,000, Healthy Food Guide, up by 7,000 (+8.8%) to 87,000, That’s Life, up by 16,000 (+29.1%) to 71,000, and Time, up by 12,000 (+26.7%) to 57,000.

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

Full Magazine 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 (New Idea, New Zealand Listener, NZ Woman's Day, NZ Woman's Weekly, Property Press, That's Life, Time, TV Guide) and last 4 weeks for all other non-weekly titles.

Canvas is again easily the most widely read Newspaper Inserted Magazine in late 2025

The New Zealand Herald’s Canvas (North Island) was clearly the most widely read Newspaper Inserted Magazine over the past year with a readership of 205,000, an increase of 21,000 (+11.4%) on a year ago – over 50 per cent higher than any other magazine.

In second place is the widely read Viva (North Island) with a readership of 111,000 following an increase of 4,000 (+3.7%) on a year ago just ahead of Sunday Magazine with a readership of 100,000, and Your Weekend with a readership of 88,000.

New Zealand’s Leading Newspaper Inserted Magazines by Print Readership

Full Readership Results for over 40 New Zealand Magazines available to view here.

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

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To learn more about Roy Morgan’s Readership results for New Zealand call +61 (3) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.

About Roy Morgan

Roy Morgan is Australia’s largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state, as well as in the U.S. and U.K. A full-service research organisation, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience collecting objective, independent information on consumers.