Six magazine categories enjoy growth over the last year led by Health & Family, Food & Entertainment, Women’s Lifestyle and Motoring – all with readership up on 2021

14.7 million Australians read magazines in print and online

Now 11 million Australians aged 14+ (52.1%) read print magazines, down 0.9% points on a year ago, according to the results released today from the Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to June 2022.

This market broadens to 14.7 million Australians aged 14+ (69.5%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app, a small drop of 3.1 per cent from a year ago. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 65,321 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to June 2022.

Print readership increased for six magazine categories compared to a year ago including for Health & Family, Food & Entertainment, Women’s Lifestyle and Motoring

There were increases in print readership for six of the 17 magazine categories over the last year despite the easing of restrictions allowing Australians to spend their money more widely so far during 2022.

The print readership of Health & Family magazines, the fifth most widely read magazine category, increased by 23.6 per cent to 1,180,000 and the most widely read Food & Entertainment category, was up marginally to a readership of over 7,134,000.

General interest magazines had a print readership of 4,022,000 to be the second most widely read category of magazines ahead of Home & Garden, read by 3,667,000 and Mass Women’s read by 2,642,000.

The print readership of Women’s Lifestyle magazines was up 13.1 per cent to over 290,000 while Motoring magazines improved by 10.6 per cent to 907,000 and readership was up for Motorcyles and Crafts.

Four of the top 10 magazines increased their print readership over the past year with Better Homes & Gardens and Australian Women’s Weekly again the most widely read paid magazines

Nearly half of the top 10 most widely read magazines increased their print readership over the last year and eight out of the top 25.

Better Homes & Gardens is Australia’s most widely read paid magazine with print readership of 1,574,000 ahead of the Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 1,202,000. Better Homes & Gardens and Australian Women’s Weekly are the only two paid magazines with a readership of over 1 million.

In addition, National Geographic has an impressive print readership of 818,000 to be Australia’s third most widely read paid magazine just ahead of Taste.com.au Magazine, up 23.3 per cent to 810,000 ahead of Woman’s Day with a print readership of 727,000.

Coles magazine & Fresh Ideas are most widely read while Bunnings magazine is read by 1.5m

Australia's two most widely read free magazines are Coles magazine with a print readership of 4,829,000 just ahead of Fresh Ideas (from Woolworths) with a readership of 4,725,000, up 2.8 per cent.

Bunnings magazine is the third most widely read free magazine with a print readership of 1,516,000 ahead of the NRMA’s magazine Open Road (NSW) which rounds out the top four free magazines with a readership of 1,289,000, up a large 20.9 per cent on a year ago – the largest increase for any of the top five magazines. Also increasing was its counterpart up north with RACQ’s Road Ahead (Qld) increasing its readership by 5.3 per cent to 659,000 to be the tenth most widely read magazine in the country.

Other magazines to increase their print readership over the past year included Vogue Australia, up 0.3 per cent to 352,000 and big gains for both Street Machine, up 39.5 per cent to 307,000 and Men’s Health, up 21.6 per cent to 293,000. Qantas Magazine, which was now returned to ‘in-flight’ distribution with the resumption of domestic air travel recorded a print readership of 334,000 during this period.

Top 25 Magazines by print readership – June 2022

Full Magazine Print Readership Results available to view here.
*Reporting period covers in-flight distribution.

The five most read categories of magazines by print readership

• Food & Entertainment (7,134,000 Australians, 33.7% of the population);
• General Interest (4,022,000 Australians, 19.0% of the population);
• Home & Garden (3,667,000 Australians, 17.3% of the population);
• Mass Women’s (2,642,000 Australians, 12.5% of the population);
• Health & Family (1,180,000 Australians, 5.6% of the population).

Food & Entertainment magazines number one with total print readership of over 7.1 million

Food & Entertainment is again Australia's best performing magazine category and is now read by 7,134,000 Australians, or 33.7% of the population – over 3 million ahead of any other category. A majority of six out of the 11 titles in this category increased their print readership on a year ago.

The free supermarket titles remain the clear leaders in the category led by Coles magazine with a print readership of 4,829,000 just ahead of the second-placed Woolworth’s Fresh Ideas now read by 4,725,000 Australians, up 128,000 (up 2.8 per cent).

Taste.com.au magazine was one of the big winners over the last year and significantly increased its print readership, up by 23.3 per cent to 810,000, while readership of Eat Well was up an impressive 34 per cent to 142,000.

Magazines to increase their readership also included New Idea Food, up 22 per cent to 100,000, Gourmet Traveller Wine up 4.9 per cent to 86,000 and Halliday (was Wine Companion) up 53.1 per cent to 49,000.

Other widely read magazines in the category include Delicious, with a readership of 287,000 and Australian Gourmet Traveller now read by 182,000.

Print readership of General Interest magazines holds strong above 4 million

4,022,000 Australians, or 19% of the population, read at least one of the general interest magazines. Of the 15 magazines in the category, 8 increased their print readership from a year ago while only five decreased and there were two new titles: Escape Magazine and T Australia: The New York Times Style Magazine.

National Geographic was easily the most widely read paid magazine in the category with a print readership of 818,000, ahead of the second-placed Australian Geographic with a print readership of 428,000 and Reader’s Digest Australia in third with a print readership of 344,000.

Several magazines recorded large print readership increases led by Cosmos, up 71.2 per cent to 125,000, Australian Traveller, up 35.2 per cent to 165,000 and Vacations & Travel, up 11.8 per cent to 142,000.

There were also strong performances by several motoring magazines: Open Road (NSW) read by 1,289,000 (up 20.9 per cent), Road Ahead (Qld) now read by 659,000 (up 5.3 per cent), Horizons (WA) read by 271,000 (up 5.9 per cent), SA Motor (SA) read by 234,000 (up 18.8 per cent) and Journeys (Tas) read by 33,000 (up 17.9 per cent).

For the new magazines in the category the readership numbers were impressive with Escape Magazine achieving a readership of 246,000 and T Australia: The New York Times Style Magazine read by 117,000.

Home & Garden magazines are in a clear third place read by over 3.6 million Australians

Home & Garden magazines are now read by 3,667,000 Australians accounting for over one-in-six Australians. There were two magazines in the category to increase their print readership on a year ago.

Australia’s most widely read paid magazine is again Better Homes & Gardens (BH&G) with a print readership of 1,574,000 – over 300,000 more than any other paid magazine.

The second most widely read is the freely available Bunnings magazine which is now read by 1,516,000 and is the only other magazine in the category with a readership of over 1 million.

Other well-known and widely read magazines in the category include House & Garden with an impressive readership of 577,000, Gardening Australia with a readership of 424,000 and Home Beautiful with a readership of 318,000.

There were two magazines to grow their print readership over the last year led by Grand Designs Australia, up 7.9 per cent to 163,000 and Belle, up 5.7 per cent to 134,000.

Mass Women’s magazines are read by over 2.6 million Australians in 2022

Mass Women’s magazines are now read by 2,642,000 Australians equal to 12.5 per cent of the population and include five magazines read by more than 500,000 people – more than any other category.

Easily the most widely read magazine in the category is Australian Women’s Weekly with a print readership of 1,202,000 ahead of second-placed Woman’s Day with a readership of 727,000 and third-placed New Idea with a readership of 604,000.

The popular ‘competition-focused’ magazines are also widely read led by That’s Life Mega Monthly with a readership of 540,000, Take 5 Bumper Monthly read by 517,000, Take 5 (Weekly) with a readership of 481,000 and That’s Life read by 469,000.

A majority of Health & Family magazines increase their print readership from a year ago

Overall the Health & Family magazines print readership increased by a substantial 23.6 per cent to 1,180,000 (5.6% of the population).

Four of the five continuing magazines in the category experienced an increase in print readership over the last year led by Wellbeing, up 56.9 per cent to a readership of 160,000.

There were other large increases in print readership for Women’s Health, up 15.6 per cent to 237,000, Healthy Food Guide, up 20.7 per cent to 227,000 and Diabetic Living, up 13.5 per cent to 202,000.

There was one new magazine in the category, Wellbeing Wild, that achieved a print readership of 40,000.

Women’s Lifestyle, Motoring and Motorcycle magazine categories increase readership

There was growth in several smaller magazine categories with the Women’s Lifestyle, Motoring, Crafts and Motorcycle categories all increasing their print readership in the 12 months to June 2022.

Women’s Lifestyle magazines were a standout performer over the last year growing overall print readership by 13.1 per cent to 293,000. The most widely read magazine in the category is Who with a readership of 136,000, while the biggest improver over the past year was English Women’s Weekly which increased its readership by 5 per cent to 106,000.

Motoring magazines are the seventh most widely read magazine category and experienced growth of 10.6 per cent over the past year for an overall print readership of 907,000, or 4.3% of the population with four of the six magazines in the category increasing their readership over the past year.

The magazines to increase their readership included Street Machine, up a large 39.5 per cent to 307,000, Just Cars, up 23.1 per cent to 224,000, Unique Cars, up 16.5 per cent to 191,000 and Motor, up 13.7 per cent to 149,000. Another of the widely read magazines in the category is 4x4 Australia, read by 247,000.

Motorcycle magazines also had a good year increasing print readership by 24.8 per cent on a year ago to 176,000 with two new magazines helping to boost the overall number.

The new magazines are Dirt Action with a readership of 42,000 and Road Rider with a readership of 40,000 while the most widely read magazine in the category is Australian Motorcycle News with a readership of 102,000.

Crafts magazines have had an increase in overall print readership by 10 per cent to 110,000 for the category. Driving the increase was readership of Homespun, up 21.2 per cent to 63,000 to be just ahead of Quilters Companion with a readership of 61,000.

Other magazines to perform strongly included Vogue Australia, up 0.3 per cent to 352,000, Men’s Health, up 21.6 per cent to 293,000, Rolling Stone, up 11.1 per cent to 200,000, New Scientist, up 8.2 per cent to 198,000, Australian Golf Digest, up 18.7 per cent to 165,000, The Monthly, up 20.2 per cent to 155,000, Fresh Water Fishing Australia, up 21.3 per cent to 91,000, PC PowerPlay, up 1.2 per cent to 87,000 and APC up 23.5 per cent to 84,000.

Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ digital platform is read by more than 1.8 million Australians

The results for the 12 months to June 2022 for Magazine Publishers are impressive with the 4 week digital platform audience data showing Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ website attracting an audience of more than 1.8 million Australians in an average 4 week period. Are Media’s ‘Now to Love’ platform allows advertisers to reach their audience in new ways with innovative online offerings.

Many of Are Media’s magazine brands (including Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, Take 5 and TV Week) have consolidated their online presence on the ‘Now to Love’ platform which adds incremental reach to already strong print based publications, including Woman’s Day and Australian Women’s Weekly which both reach cross-platform audiences of around 3 million readers in an average 4 week period.

Other magazines with large cross-platform audiences include News Corp’s Taste.com.au Magazine with a total audience of almost 3.3 million, Are Media’s Take 5 (weekly) with a total audience of more than 2.5 million, TV Week with a total audience of more than 2.4 million, New Idea with more than 2.1 million and Better Homes & Gardens with well over 2 million readers in an average 4 weeks in the 12 months to June 2022.

Top 15 Magazines – Total Cross-Platform Audience

Full Magazine Total Cross-Platform Audience results available to view here.
Total cross-platform audience includes print – average issue readership and digital – website visitation and app usage in an average 4 weeks, except for weekly titles which are in an average 7 days (denoted by *). #For additional detail on the platforms available for each magazine visit the Roy Morgan website.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says the readership of magazines has remained robust in the year to June 2022 as we have dealt with several waves of COVID-19 and these disruptions to normal daily life do make comparisons between different time periods challenging:

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