CIRCULATION – April 2006 media release
Australia's fastest growing newspaper
PUBLISHERS' STATEMENTS
CIRCULATION FIGURES FOR NEWSPAPERS AND THE INTERNET FOR 6 MONTHS TO MARCH 2006
The Age and The Sunday Age post industry's highest circulation gains.
The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald and The Australian Financial Review report continued circulation growth.
Strong gains for Fairfax Digital sites.
JAMES HOOKE
MANAGING DIRECTOR, NSW
FAIRFAX METROPOLITAN, REGIONAL AND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
Circulation is up across all editions of all Fairfax's newspapers in NSW for the second consecutive audit period. This is an outstanding result.
With improved editorial quality and agenda-setting coverage, The Sydney Morning Herald is continuing its strong and steady growth that began in 2005. This is the second consecutive survey where we had positive circulation audits for all days of the week. The Weekend SMH gain of over 5,000 copies, or 1.5%, is particularly significant. These results are an excellent way to mark 175 years of publishing.
The circulation rise for The Sun-Herald -- particularly in contrast to the sharp fall of its Sunday competitor -- reflects continued editorial improvements and effective marketing programs. The circulation momentum of The Sun-Herald is an excellent reward for an editorial team committed to serving its readers.
The Herald brand has never been stronger. With an average approaching 1 million readers per day, and over 2 million unique browsers per month, more people now access our excellent content via our newspapers and online than ever before.
The Newcastle Herald and Illawarra Mercury registered continued circulation growth across all editions.
DON CHURCHILL
MANAGING DIRECTOR, VICTORIA
FAIRFAX METROPOLITAN, REGIONAL AND COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS
These are excellent circulation results and are the result of a great deal of hard work across the paper to strengthen and reinvigorate The Age.
Sales are up across all days of the week for the first time since December 2003 , subscription levels at a record high of more than 100,000, readership is growing on all days, and theage.com.au has posted 1.4 million unique monthly browsers, up 38%.
The Age’s overall audience in print and online is at record levels.
The Age is the only paper, with the exception of its sister paper The Sydney Morning Herald, to record a positive audit on all days of the week.
Sunday’s circulation has reached record levels with The Sunday Age posting the best percentage growth - 5.18% or an additional 10,200 copies - which makes it the fastest growing newspaper in the country.
Weekday circulation also grew strongly by 2.5% or 4,800 copies which was the highest percentage increase of any metropolitan daily newspaper in Australia and Saturday’s circulation is also up over 300,000.
We expect the positive sales trend to continue forecasting strong gains for the third consecutive period.
MICHAEL GILL
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR IN CHIEF
FAIRFAX BUSINESS MEDIA
The solid year on year growth in The Australian Financial Review is the pleasing result of our ongoing enhancements to marketing, circulation sales efforts and consistently strong editorial quality as well as the flow on effects of the record-setting stock market.
As noted previously, long weekend bumper issues have a pronounced effect on the circulation result for the Weekend Financial Review with their associated extended on sale period delivering significant gains in issue circulation and an opportunity for advertisers to extend reach. The apparent declines in Weekend Financial Review circulation are attributable to Easter falling outside of the March period this year. Underlying circulation fundamentals for the Weekend Financial Review remain strong. Note that as we move from bi-annual to quarterly audit periods these variations will become more pronounced.
MIKE GAME
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
FAIRFAX DIGITAL
Fairfax Digital's network of news, information and classified sites recorded another period of outstanding audience growth, with its domestic unique browser base increasing by 46% to 7.8 million per month year on year.
MyCareer.com.au continues to be the fastest growing employment classified site in Australia, whilst drive.com.au has increased its audience ranking for the second period.
The Commonwealth Games coverage in late March showcased the richness and variety of content produced by theage.com.au and smh.com.au, with extensive video, multimedia and interactive content being devoured by our audiences in Victoria, NSW, across Australia, and internationally.
Please click here to download further statistics.
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Prepared by John Fairfax Holdings
For further information or comment please contact Bruce Wolpe on: 02 9292 3640 or by email at bwolpe@mail.fairfax.com.au
Source: Fairfax
Release Date: 21 Apr 2006 00:00
