NZ Herald bucks the trend as readership grows again

Readership for the New Zealand Herald's flagship papers has grown again. Photo/File.

A total of 589,000 New Zealanders devour the New Zealand Herald's weekend papers for an average of 1.5 hours every week, new figures show.

Around 516,000 readers spend on average 49 minutes each reading the Weekend Herald and 313,000 spend 44 minutes on the Herald on Sunday.

This is the fourth consecutive survey that the Weekend Herald has maintained an audience above half a million.

These stats come from the latest round of Nielsen newspaper readership survey results, which also showed a 9 per cent year-on-year increase in readership for the New Zealand Herald, now reaching 453,000 readers.

"That's a terrific effort and testimony to the hard work and professionalism that all our team at NZME produce day after day," said NZ Herald editor Murray Kirkness.

"It's also a reminder that we have many loyal readers, who see our content as premium and worth paying for. These numbers again show our newspapers are trustworthy, strong, and relevant."

The Herald on Sunday has a strong readership of 313,000 and Sunday magazines have seen an increase in the same time period: Spy gained 15,000 year on year, reaching 116,000 readers, and Sunday Travel has 204,000 readers, which is up 7000 readers on a year ago.

"This is a time when our guiding principles are needed like never before in our 156-year history: To speak truth to power and give a voice to those who need help. To inform, provoke, campaign and entertain," said NZME managing editor Shayne Currie.

"In an era of a new Government, local body elections, political scandals and an increasingly polarised debate, the NZ Herald makes a difference with hard-hitting exclusives, investigations and campaigns. We're here to make New Zealand a better place."

There have also been strong results for the Herald's suite of magazines.

Weekend Magazine has seen readership grow to 306,000, up 12,000 versus the previous period and a whopping 47,000 (18 per cent) compared with a year ago.

Canvas now has readership of 300,000, up 3000 on the previous quarter and 34,000 more than a year ago.

Tuesday Travel gained 14,000 (+5 per cent) readers versus the previous period and is up 19,000 year on year. Its readership is now 284,000.

Viva readership is now 223,000, up 7000 readers on a year ago.

There was a great result for TimeOut, up 10,000 (4 per cent) on the previous period and up 35,000 (15 per cent) on last year. Its readership is 267,000.

And The Business readership is 262,000 — unchanged on the previous period; up 16,000 (7 per cent) from a year ago.

Many regions are also experiencing growth in their readership. The Northern Advocate audience is now 37,000, up 8000 year on year. The Rotorua Daily Post is at 17,000, up 1000 readers year on year, and NZME's largest regional paper, The Hawke's Bay Today, maintained its 46,000 readership over the same period. Great stuff from our hard-working and committed regional teams.

Taken as a whole, NZME news brands now reach about 2.5 million Kiwis, which pushes NZME's total reach to nearly 3.3 million New Zealanders.

NZME chief commercial officer Matt Headland says the growth across the NZ Herald, magazines and regional titles give advertisers the tools they need to effectively and efficiently deliver their message.

"The different publications of NZME allow us to create integrated and engaging campaigns. When we combine our publications with NZME's radio and digital offering, we can drive engagement in a uniquely cohesive and successful way and regardless of whether the client is in Auckland or Bluff, our team is able to create bespoke campaigns that deliver. We have a strong sales team to help integrate commercial opportunities across this audience, and our regional teams are central to this."