A surge in readers aged under 35 years has helped The Age remain Victoria’s most read masthead, with a cross platform readership of more than 6 million, according to Total News readership figures released by Roy Morgan today.

With one in three Australian news readers engaging with the masthead to inform their day, The Age had a Total News readership of 6.1 million across print and digital in the 12 months to December 2021, an increase of 2% year-on-year.

The Age recorded growth in digital and total audience for the quarter, while The Herald Sun went backwards in total audience. The Age audience is 30 percent bigger than the News Corp tabloid. 

The Age has seen an 8% growth in young readers (under 35 years old) year-on-year, with the masthead now attracting 1.4 million more readers than its direct competitor, cementing its place as the nation’s second most read news brand after The Sydney Morning Herald.

As trusted news becomes more important than ever, The Age has outpaced industry readership growth across print and digital (1.9% for The Age v 0.9% growth for Total News overall) year-on-year. 

The Sunday Age print edition has seen a 7% increase year-on-year and the newspaper is read by 422,000 people every Sunday. On a yearly basis, The Age print audience across all days was down just 1% compared with a 2% decline for The Herald Sun. 

Across The Age and the Herald, Saturday’s prestigious Good Weekend continues to increase its readership, attracting an average issue print readership of 796,000, up 3% year-on-year.

Sunday Life has seen year-on-year growth of 8%, with an average issue print readership of 500,000 driven by an increase of readers aged 14-24, while Domain has also seen year-on-year growth of 8% with a print readership of 503,000.

Nine’s Total Publishing assets reach a de-duplicated audience of 16.2 million* Australians across print and digital.

“It is pleasing to see such strong readership growth, especially among younger people,” said Gay Alcorn, Editor of The Age. “The Age is the dominant masthead in Victoria, and we cannot achieve that without loyal readers and new readers. I want to thank them for their support for independent, quality journalism. It has never been more important.”

The Total News readership figures are produced by Roy Morgan for ThinkNewsBrands. 

Source: Roy Morgan Research, All People 14+. All audience data is based on the last 4 weeks averaged over the 12 months to December 2021.

*This figure includes: Nine.com.au, SMH Print & Digital, The Age Print & Digital, AFR Print & Digital, Brisbane Times, WA Today, Good Weekend VIC & NSW, Sunday Life VIC & NSW, Domain NIM VIC & NSW, AFR Magazine

For more information:
Adrian Motte
Senior Communications Manager – Trade & Publishing 
amotte@nine.com.au

Monday, February 28, 2022