Herald's daily circulation grows by 1100

The New Zealand Herald has reinforced its position as the country's top-selling daily newspaper.

In the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation survey, for the six months to September 30, the Herald's average daily circulation was 208,419 - up more than 1100 on the same period a year ago.

That result is the average over the Herald's six publishing days. The Herald on Sunday did not launch until October 3. However, the new title has delivered a circulation result in excess of 115,000 each week across its first six weeks of operation.

The Herald on Sunday will be officially included in the next audit.

The daily Herald's readership - which is recorded separately from sales - confirms it is the country's best-read paper. Figures to June 30 show that on a typical day 591,000 New Zealanders aged 15 and over will read the Herald, while the Weekend Herald has a readership of 699,000.

Almost twice as many Aucklanders read the Weekend Herald as any other weekend newspaper.

The publisher of the Herald, APN NZ chief executive Ken Steinke, said the ABC figures "are excellent results which continue to place us in a firm position to grow the newspaper category".

After the Herald, the next biggest daily paper is the Dominion Post in Wellington, with average circulation of 98,229, up 122 on the previous year, followed by the Christchurch Press on 90,828.

In the Sunday market, the final audit period before the launch of the Herald on Sunday saw the Sunday News drop an average of 70 papers an issue to 114,849 and the Sunday Star-Times up 379 to 210,898.

The weekly National Business Review fell 17 to 13,433.