More Australians are reading newspapers on digitial devices, with 11.8 million people using desktops, laptops, tablets or mobiles to access newspaper media over a four week period - that's a 4.4% lift year-on-year, according to the latest Emma (Enhanced Media Metrics Australia) data.
Smartphones are driving the increase, with more than 500,000 new readers using mobiles to access newspapers in the past year. Around 3.6 million people read newspapers on mobiles, a 16% lift when compared to last year.
But print continues to maintain its hold across the board, with 13.8 million readers, or 77% of the population, still consuming print newspapers.
The Sydney Morning Herald remains Australia's most read title, with a total audience of 5.148 million readers, followed by The Daily Telegraph with 4.081 million and the Herald Sun with 3.885 million.
“The Sydney Morning Herald reached 1.3 million people in September on mobile or tablet, which is a 9% lift in audience compared to the same time last year," Allen Williams, managing director of Australian Publishing Media at Fairfax Media, said.
The SMH reaches more than one million more readers than its nearest competitor, he added.
“The new-look afr.com continues to attract new readers: desktop audiences are up 17% helping to lift AFR’s readership across all platforms by 5% in the year to September," Williams said.
“These results illustrate how readers respond to outstanding journalism and the opportunity to access Fairfax Media mastheads’ compelling content on the platform and device of the consumer’s choice.”
Boosts to digital readership are offsetting declines in print readership, with total readership of newspaper media at 16.4 million.
The data also reveals that regional and community newspapers are growing in total readership, up 7.4% and 6.7%, respectively.
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