Yesterday saw the third release of Total News data for 2022 so far, capturing data up to June of this year. Looking at these three sets of data, some interesting trends emerge that highlight the opportunities and challenges facing Australia’s news brands. Let’s take a look at some of them.
The ongoing decline of Print is holding back Total News readership
There’s no way around it: when looking at the three Total News data releases this year, it’s clear that Print news is in decline, with its audience dropping from 13.5 million in the December 2021 data to 12.6 million in the June 2022 data, a decline of 5.9%.
Despite this drop in Print readership, Total News as a whole remains on an upward trend, growing its audience marginally from 20.4 million in December 2021 to 20.5 million in June 2022, thanks to the continued growth of Digital news.
Only one newspaper group has posted consistent growth
In the three sets of data we have from the year so far, West Australian Newspapers (WAN) is the only newspaper group that’s seen growth in every data release. Going from an audience of 4.5 million in the December 2021 data to 4.7 million in the June 2022 data, WAN has jumped The Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph to move into fourth place.
The Sydney Morning Herald has retained its #1 spot throughout the year, although its audience has waned slightly from 8.6 million in the December 2021 data to 8.4 million in the June 2022 data.
Stable news consumption across age demographics
Across the five age demographics tracked by Total News, audiences have remained largely stable, with marginal growth in the 35-49s, 50-64s and 65+s offsetting a slight decline in the 14-24s audience and driving Total News audiences from 20.4 million in the December 2021 data to 20.5 million in the June 2022 data.
To learn more about the key trends and topics shaping Australian media, download Streem’s August 2022 State of Australian Media Report, and to learn how Streem’s realtime media monitoring platform can enable your organisation to monitor and manage its news and media, get in touch with our team.