WA and SA paper sales slump, as magazine market continues its decline
Newspaper sales in WA are having a nightmare, according to new figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
News Ltd’s Perth-based Sunday Times is down 5.9% on a year before, while the weekday West Australian, now under the control of Kerry Stokes, is down by 2.7%.
There are also problems for newspapers in Adelaide, where News Ltd’s Adelaide Advertiser is down 4.4% on weekday sales, while the group’s Sunday Mail is down 5.2%.
But elsewhere, newspaper circulations appear to be relatively steady. The Australian, also owned by News Ltd, saw a modest increase, up 1.5% from 135,000 to 137,000.
In Sydney, News Ltd’s Daily Telegraph was down 1.6% to 369,000, while Fairfax’s SMH was virtually unchanged. However, the city’s Sunday market suffered more, with the Sunday Telegraph down 2.5% and the Sun-Herald down 5.3%
In Melbourne, News Ltd’s weekday Herald Sun and Sunday Herald Sun were both down 2.7%, while The Age was static.
And in Queensland, News Ltd’s Courier Mail was down 2.5% and the Sunday Mail by 5.2%.
It was also a rough quarter for Fairfax’s Australian Financial review – down 2.4%.
What is unclear is to what extent the newspapers have shored up their circulations by giving away more free copies, as Mumbrella does not yet have access to the detailed circulation breakdowns.
The Australian’s take on the figurers is here, while the SMH’s is here.
Meanwhile, the women’s magazine market continues to struggle, with ACP’s Australian Women’s Weekly (which is monthly) down by 13.8% on last year to 491,000. Stablemate weeklies Woman’s Day and NW are down by 12.9% by 16.4%.
However, Pacific Magazines’ Famous saw a slight increase, partly driven by a cover price reduction.
Top Gear magazine debuted with sales of 85,000 copies.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Who doesn’t know his up from his down? “The Australian, also owned by News Ltd, saw a modest increase, up 1.5% from 137,000 to 135,000.” Last time I checked the way numbers line up (I now that is terribly linear and analogue, but what the heck!) 137,000 came after 135,000. Was The Oz up 1.5% from 135,000 to 137,000, or down 1.5% from 137,00 to 135,000?
I’m also interested to see The Australian’s take on the ‘figurers’ … would that be the Audit Bureau?
Also, freebies are capped at 1% – and I suspect they were at least 1% before and are still over 1% now so it should make no difference.
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(and that should be ‘know’ – who stole my ‘k’ key … it’s OK … it’s back now).
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Oops – thanks; my bad. Sorted now.
As well as free copies, I don’t yet know how many discount/ special offer copies there were. As a one-person case study, I feel like at the moment I’m being bombarded with reduced cost subs to the SMH in particular. I wonder how much of that is going on across the board…?
Free copies are not part of the ABC’s reporting and have never been.
The ABC amended their rules in 2006, tightening their definition of paid circulation and providing greater transparency on what is included in audited figures.
JG…as to the ‘figurers’, I think you’re thinking of the publishers. The ABC are the ‘checkerers’!
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