Australian Community Newspaper Readership results

Readership of Community Newspapers in all mainland capital cities has declined, but many titles are bucking the trend and finding new local readers, the latest Roy Morgan Community Newspaper Readership results for the 24 months to September 2016 show.

In Sydney, the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader extended its lead as the most-read community paper, with 220,000 readers per average issue (up 15.8% compared with the period to September 2015). Other titles with growing readership include the Bankstown-Canterbury Torch (up 8.2% to 92,000), the Penrith Press (up 21.0% to 75,000), Northern District Times (up 11.3% to 69,000), and the Mosman Daily (up 5.8% to 55,000).

Two other mastheads continue to reach over 100,000 locals per average edition—across multiple editions each week. The Wednesday and Friday issues of the Central Coast’s Express Advocate now average 141,000 readers (down 6.0%), while the Manly Daily finds 128,000 readers on Saturdays (down 5.2%) and 103,000 for its average Tuesday to Friday edition (down 6.4%).

In Melbourne, seven of News Corp’s Leader publications ceased publication in June—but was it perhaps premature for some? Before it closed, the Melton Leader was Melbourne‘s fastest growing Community title (up 47.8% to 34,000). Leader editions in Wyndham and Bayside were also gaining readers on the way to the finish line—although less than their direct local competitors, the Brimbank & Northwest Star Weekly (up 33.3% to 36,000) and Wyndham Star Weekly (up 19.0% to 50,000) from Star News Group and Metro Media Publishing.

Among the remaining Leader titles, growth was strongest for Maribyrnong (up 20.0% to 24,000), Hume (up 6.1% to 52,000), Bayside (up 5.6% to 76,000), Maroondah (up 4.7% to 45,000), Whittlesea (up 3.2% to 65,000) and Moonee Valley (up 2.8% to 36,000). 

In Brisbane, the South-West News, including its specially-badged Springfield News edition, grew 12.5% to 54,000 readers per average weekly issue. The total Pine Rivers Press including North Lakes Times editions also gained readers (up 8.1% to 40,000), as did the Noosa News (up 5.9% to 36,000) and Ipswich Advertiser (up 5.8% to 55,000).

Just dipping below 100,000, Brisbane News remains the most-read Community publication in the area (down 7.5% to 99,000) ahead of Albert & Logan News (down 6.7% to 83,000) and the Southern Star (down 9.2% to 79,000).

In Perth, the stand-out performer over the past year is the Hills/Avon Valley Gazette (up 13.3% to 51,000), with only three other titles making gains: the Perth Voice (up 5.0% to 42,000), the Echo and Sound Telegraph (both up 4.9% to 43,000).

In Adelaide, the combined reach of the many Messengers declined only 1.7% overall, making it the best performing city for Community newspaper readership.  The City North Messengers rose 14.7% to 39,000, ahead of the Northern Messenger (up 10.0% to 88,000) and East Torrens Messenger (up 6.9% to 31,000), largely offsetting the falls across other titles.

Community Newspaper Average Issue Readership – September 2016

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source, October 2013 – September 2015 n = 100,866, October 2014 – September 2016 n = 100,913 Australians 14+

Michele Levine – CEO, Roy Morgan Research, says:

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