Printed newspaper readership and circulation continue to circle the drain, with another round of big losses recorded for the full 2014 year.
In its first full calendar year report since it began 18 months ago, Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (emma) figures show significant print readership falls across the board.
The Sydney Morning Herald fell eight per cent to 2.31 million monthly readers in January compared to the previous year, while The Age is down 10 per cent to 1.6 million.
News Corp papers fared a little better with Daily Telegraph losing five per cent to 2.99 million over the month, and Melbourne’s Herald Sun down two per cent to 2.87 million.
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Circulation is also far worse for Fairfax with the Herald’s weekday copies falling 13 per cent to just 115,000, and the Sunday edition down 14 per cent. The Age is even worse, falling 18.3 per cent to 106,843 on weekdays.
The Telegraph fell 6.9 per cent to 273,241 copies, The Australian is down 6.7 per cent and is perilously close to going below 100,000 copies, and the Herald Sun shed 7.9 per cent but still dominates The Age.
Emma’s figures show an overall increase of one per cent to 16.3 million readers, but this is due to a rise in viewing papers on the digital platforms.
Digital newspaper readers now make up 59 per cent of the total readership, a year on year increase of 5 per cent, though most newspaper readers buy both printed and digital products, often in bundled subscriptions.
Mark Hollands, chief executive of newspaper peak body The Newspaper Works, says digital consumption of newspapers continues to grow, and many of these readers will also buy the printed version.
“Printed newspapers remain a vital source of news, information and entertainment for 81 per cent of the Australian population [who consume news] and are still a viable and effective medium for both readers and advertisers,” he says.
“Digital readers also engage with print, with 82 per cent of digital readers, or 8.7 million people, also reading printed newspapers.”
The freefalling numbers appear to indicate this is nowhere near enough of them, with even publishers themselves publically question the viability of the print editions in the next 10 years.
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