Readers stay, advertisers go

Print media are holding on to readers but that has not meant maintaining advertising revenue.

Nielsen Media Research readership figures for the year to March 31 yesterday showed newspaper readership was stable, a result similar to recent audience estimates for television and radio.

The survey compared readership for both newspapers and magazines with the 12 months to March 31, 2008.

Average issue readership for the country's five metropolitan dailies - the New Zealand Herald, Dominion Post, Press, Waikato Times and Otago Daily Times - was up 14,000 per day.

The Herald remained the country's biggest newspaper with an average daily readership of 586,000.

Newspaper Publishers' Association chief executive Tim Pankhurst accentuated the positives in the survey.

He said that combined with online audiences from newspaper websites, "the reach is bigger than ever".

But "there was no denying advertising is down and all sectors of the media are feeling that," he said.

Martin Gillman of advertising buyer Total Media said aspects of the Nielsen survey were positive.

"On a typical day 48.1 per of the population aged over 10 read a daily newspaper, rising to 71.5 per cent over a week," he said.

"Sunday reading for the Sunday News, Sunday Star-Times and Herald on Sunday was remarkably stable," Gillman said.

But both Gillman and analyst Michael Carney of The Media Counsel said the biggest challenge for newspapers was advertising revenue.

Carney said: "Key advertisers for newspapers are automotive, real estate and financial and these are the areas of the economy that have been hardest hit over the past year."

Carney said magazines also faced the impact from casual sales. Falls in single copy sales and consequently readership were due to the recession rather than any global trend toward online media.

"Consumers are choosing between a block of cheese or a magazine."


MAG MOVEMENTS

NOTABLE RISES

Healthy Food Guide: 28 per cent

New Zealand Gardener: 25 per cent

Creme: 24 per cent

Taste: 16 per cent

Dish: 15 per cent

NOTABLE FALLS

Tearaway: 28 per cent

Mana: 21 per cent

Rugby News: 21 per cent

Cleo: 16 per cent

NZ Classic Car: 16 per cent