Christopher Hughes
Research expert covering Australia and New Zealand
Newspapers in Australia - statistics & facts
Printed newspaper circulation is experiencing continued decline globally as a result of the rise and dominance of digital media. In Australia, the value of the newspaper market has dropped significantly from its previous 2014 peak of 3.9 billion Australian dollars. Similarly, turnover of the newspaper and book retail industry has been in decline since 2010.
The Australian is both the most popular daily and weekly newspaper with by far the largest national readership in Australia, attracting an average of 539 thousand readers for its weekday editions. However, when it comes to online representation, The Australian does not seem to be the most successful publication. Instead, The Sydney Morning Herald was the most popular daily news channel on YouTube with approximately 11 million uploaded video views, compared to only around 940,000 uploaded online video views for The Australian.
Fake news is talked about around the globe. Nonetheless, the majority of regional or local newspaper readers in Australia trust the news, as well as established domestic news providers such as ABC news and SBS news.
Printed newspapers still popular with Australians
Despite the general decline of the newspaper industry, Australians still enjoy reading printed newspapers. There are two national and ten state or territory daily newspapers. Of course, there are a huge variety of regional daily and other regional and suburban newspapers in Australia.The Australian is both the most popular daily and weekly newspaper with by far the largest national readership in Australia, attracting an average of 539 thousand readers for its weekday editions. However, when it comes to online representation, The Australian does not seem to be the most successful publication. Instead, The Sydney Morning Herald was the most popular daily news channel on YouTube with approximately 11 million uploaded video views, compared to only around 940,000 uploaded online video views for The Australian.
How many Australians read newspapers and magazines?
Looking at states and territories individually, readership is of course higher in the more populous states; for example, the most read paper in New South Wales is the Sunday Telegraph, which attracted an average of 587 thousand weekly readers in the year to March 2020. Nationally, magazine readership also remains steady; digital readership of magazines has increased to just under 7.5 million in 2019, whereas print readership figures remain significantly lower.Fake news is talked about around the globe. Nonetheless, the majority of regional or local newspaper readers in Australia trust the news, as well as established domestic news providers such as ABC news and SBS news.
