The Sydney Morning Herald’s weekly print edition recorded an average readership of 383,000 per issue, while the Saturday edition recorded 485,000 readers.
In a press release about the findings, executive editor Luke McIlveen said: “The news cycle has been relentless in the first quarter of 2024, and the millions of readers who turn to our mastheads for quality and accuracy have shown their willingness to invest in premium journalism.
“We’re delighted with the subscription growth across The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and we will continue to deliver the thoughtful, independent journalism our readers expect.”
In Victoria, The Age maintained its standing as the turkey telemarketing database most-read masthead with a cross-platform readership of 4.7 million. This made it the second most-read news source after the Sydney Morning Herald. The Age beat its major Victorian competitor, The Herald Sun, by more than 720,000 readers.
The Age’s weekly print editions recorded an average readership of 251,000 per issue, and 403,000 for the Saturday edition.
“Our focus on quality, high-impact journalism that matters to Victorians is making a real difference to the lives of people in this state,” The Age editor Patrick Elligett said. “Reader endorsement of our approach is evident in the subscription and engagement growth we are seeing each week.”
The Australian Financial Review was named the most-read premium business masthead, with a readership of 3.5 million people. Its News Corp rival The Australian, recorded a fall in readership over the year. The Financial Review’s editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury said the newsroom was pleased with the success of their digital strategy and the growth of their digital-only audience.
“With our digital-only audience growing by 2.4 percent a year, the Financial Review has the biggest digital audience of any national newspaper brand.”
Australian readership trends
ThinkNewsBrands, a trade group for news publishers, reported 18.1 million Australians (or 82 percent of the population) consumed news each week. Reading news (53 percent) surpassed both watching and listening, with slightly more women engaged than men. More than 60 percent of readers paid for access to news, with Australians more likely to read news in the morning (56 percent) than any other time of the day.
When it came to the topics Australian readers were most interested in, general news led the pack, followed by property, sport, lifestyle and health. Readers in capital cities were only slightly more engaged than those in the country (97 vs 96 percent) The latest figures were released on Monday and included the 12 months ending March 2023 to 2024. Mamamia’s latest podcast venture ‘MID’ seeks to redefine what midlife looks like for Australian women. Hosted by author and podcaster Holly Wainwright, the new podcast offers raw and honest conversations about life for women of middle age.
Launched on Tuesday, the first episode is titled ‘Don’t call it a breakdown’ and includes a conversation about mental health with Australian cook and MasterChef alumni Julie Goodwin. The episode delves into Goodwin’s battle with poor mental health and how she managed after a particularly acute experience.
Anything but MID
The podcast is targeted at Gen X women and is part of a recent strategy from Mamamia to challenge and redefine stereotypes of midlife. The name ‘MID’ even comes from the Gen Z slang for something being mediocre or average. Through the series, Wainwright will seek to dispel assumptions about midlife.
“There’s a myth that women are past their prime by the time they reach midlife. MID shows that this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth,” Wainwright said.
“We’re celebrating this exciting stage as a time to thrive, challenge norms, put wisdom into action, and explore the untapped potential in all of us.”
Season one of the podcast will include a promising lineup of guests including Australian of the Year Shanna Whan, author Cathrine Mahoney, broadcaster Jacinta Parsons, journalist Bryony Gordon, author Katherine May, and model Jane McCann.
The first season will contain eight episodes, which will drop weekly on a Tuesday. MID is available to stream on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
A focus on women’s midlife experiences
Through the launch of MID, Mamamia joins a growing cohort of brands marketing to what has historically been a large gap in the market – women’s midlife experiences. Beauty and lifestyle brands have been popping up in recent years to create products for women experiencing peri and postmenopausal symptoms.
Australian wellness brand Phenxx recently launched a new campaign called ‘Australia’s Hottest Woman’ to promote a line of cooling bedding products designed to help women experiencing side effects of perimenopause or menopause. Last year, actor Naomi Watts took to the stage at Sydney’s SXSW to talk about her experience with menopause. She also founded her own wellness brand Stripes, a range of science-based products for women dealing with menopausal symptoms and side effects.