The Sydney Morning Herald continues to be Australia’s number one cross-platform news brand according to the latest EMMA (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data for March 2020, with The Age and The Australian Financial Review also reporting year-on-year readership growth.

The Herald reached 11.033 million Australians across print and digital in March, an audience 1.7 times larger than its nearest competitor, demonstrating how readers turned to trusted news sources as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated.

The Age had a total audience of 5.321 million, climbing to fourth position in the EMMA top 10 rankings after achieving 16 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth.

Across the Herald and Age, Tuesday’s Good Food print section continued to be the most read in both newspapers in March.

“We are very grateful that so many people have turned to the Herald and The Age during such an important and challenging period,” Herald and Age Executive Editor, James Chessell, said.

“It’s wonderful to see there is such a large audience for quality, independent news and analysis. We made the decision in March to remove our paywalls from COVID-19 content to make important public information freely available. We ensured our live blogs were – and continue to be – hosted in a prominent position on our homepage, and our journalists have endeavored to keep those updated as often as needed with all the key information.”

The Australian Financial Review connected with 3.726 million readers across print and digital in March, up 52 per cent on December 2019 and 43 per cent on March last year.

In March, the nation’s premium business, finance and political masthead held its annual two-day, in-person Business Summit and then pivoted its annual in-person “Banking & Wealth Summit” to a live-streamed virtual pandemic briefing, “Financing Australia Through the Crisis”.

The masthead’s Editor-in-Chief, Michael Stutchbury, said: “We know that readers flock to the Financial Review amid big news stories, so the month in which global share markets slumped, businesses closed and dole queues formed for the first time in three decades delivered a record jump in our audience.

“Amid a tough environment for parts of the media, the Financial Review is the only national newspaper title to increase both its digital and print readership over the past year, along with a surge in digital subscriptions that will support our business model.

“The structural shifts hastened by the pandemic mean that Australia’s premium business, finance and political masthead now attracts more readers than traditional mass market capital city mastheads such as those in Perth and Brisbane.”

In March, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review had a de-duplicated audience of 13.786 million across print and digital platforms.

Chris Nardi, Nine’s Director of Client Partnerships, Publishing, said: “The Herald, Age and Financial Review are Australia’s most revered and respected mastheads. They are the sources audiences turn to for trusted news, sport and lifestyle content, and as evidenced by these numbers their role in the lives of Australians has never been more important.

“It is also encouraging in our relentless digital lives that print continues to resonate with readers of all ages as a channel that provides a deeper, more enjoyable reading experience.”

Sources
emma, Survey conducted by Ipsos Connect, People 14+, 12 months ending March 2020. Print Readership is all based on average last four weeks, including Community and Class B Regional titles which were based on Average Issue Readership through to the end of June 2019.

For more information:
Miranda Ward
Communications Manager
miward@nine.com.au

Monday, June 1, 2020