APN connects with 2.6 million New Zealanders each week

APN connects with 2.6 million New Zealanders each week

Extensive coverage of the Canterbury earthquake and build up for the Rugby World Cup helped The New Zealand Herald increase its weekly brand audience by 41,000 in the latest Nielsen readership survey.

The readership results released today, measuring the readership habits of New Zealanders over the period July 2010 to September 2011, show APN’s flagship newspaper and online title now reaches almost 1.3 million New Zealanders every week across its print and digital products.

And in the same period the Herald on Sunday increased its commanding readership lead in the Northern Region and in Auckland in the important Sunday newspaper market.

Martin Simons, CEO of APN’s NZ Media business, said the readership and audience results showed that APN’s focus on being a market-leading multi-media organisation with strong properties both in print and online was paying off.

“The investment we have made in our products is clearly appreciated by our readers, which presents a highly engaged audience for our advertisers.”

Newspaper sales figures, which were also separately released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, were also a good news story for APN with both The New Zealand Herald and Herald on Sunday, achieving growth over the last 12 months.

Audience growth for the Herald brand

The Herald’s weekly brand audience is now 1,295,000. This is backed up by a typical daily readership of 790,000 New Zealanders who engage with the Herald in print or online – an increase of 26,000 on last year. The Herald’s print edition connects with 574,000 New Zealanders on a typical day – more than twice as many readers as any other metropolitan newspaper, and more than all other main metropolitan dailies combined.

The Saturday edition, the Weekend Herald, recorded a readership of 631,000, reaching 91,000 more readers than any other weekend newspaper in New Zealand. The Herald also reaches more New Zealanders across each of its daily editions than any other newspaper.

The Herald maintained its strong circulation result achieved last quarter, of 170,707 on an average day. And the Herald on Sunday continues its great run, with paid sales increasing by 1% on the

previous release, to 98,971 copies, enabling it to retain its title as the fastest growing newspaper in the country.

Herald on Sunday leads in the Northern region

The Herald on Sunday engages with 382,000 New Zealanders each week, and has increased its audience leadership in its core circulation areas of north of Taupo and Auckland. The Herald on Sunday now reaches 352,000 readers in the Northern Region, with an additional 77,000 readers than its closest competitor, the Sunday Star-Times. This leadership position has grown by 35% over the last 12 months. Herald on Sunday continues to deliver more than twice as many readers than the Sunday News in the Northern Region.

Leading online news site, nzherald.co.nz grows mobile

The Herald website, nzherald.co.nz, judged the best website at the Canon Media Awards this year, delivers a monthly audience of 1,734,000 visitors – 62% of the total online audience. Unique browsers increased by 35% over the 12 months ending September 2011, and our audience is spending longer with our content, with average page duration increasing 9% to 1 minute and 19 seconds, which is almost double the length of time spent with our nearest competitor’s content.

The popularity of the Herald’s mobile site was also evident with monthly unique browsers increasing by 171%, to 566,970. Over the last 12 months the Herald has released iPad and iPhone / Android apps, which attracted 98,470 unique visitors last month, and generated more than 12 million page views.

Mr Simons, said the ability to sustain a market leading audience, and to demonstrate growth in key areas was a significant achievement in these testing trading conditions.

“The New Zealand Herald and Herald on Sunday are delivering upon New Zealander’s demand for quality journalism, across our portfolio of platforms.

“The paper continues to attract more readers than any other paper in NZ, and our digital platforms are enabling consumers to connect with the latest news when and where they need to.

“All of this is contributing to an overall increase in people connecting with the Herald brand”

APN’s stable of women’s weekly titles engage with over a million New Zealanders each week

APN’s weekly magazine portfolio comprising The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly (783,000 readers), New Idea (447,000) and That’s Life (284,000) also provide un-rivalled coverage in the weekly magazine category of 1,031,000 readers.

While slightly down nationally against its nearest competitor, The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly has retained its position as the leading mass weekly publication in metropolitan centres, delivering 13,000 more readers in these influential areas.

Recent circulation growth experienced for The Weekly has been reflected with an increase in the number of primary readers engaging with it each week, up by 4% on last year.

And more New Zealanders are now connecting with The Weekly online, with unique browsers growing by 61% year on year.

APN’s current affairs title, The New Zealand Listener, and its sales stable mate Time, have both increased their audience, and in combination connect with 448,000 people, an increase of 25,000 on last year. The Listener continues to deliver more readers, with its audience growing by 21,000 to 290,000, and Time has experienced growth of 4,000 on last year, to 212,000.

Premium fashion title, Simply You recorded readership of 104,000 and Simply You Living reaches 62,000 readers. The Simply You brand attracts a high quality reader profile with both magazines more than twice as likely to reach the highest income households.

Youth titles Creme and Girlfriend engage with 227,000 each month, which is up slightly (+2,000) on the last survey period. Creme has added 4,000 readers on the previous period to 153,000, and has also experienced growth on its digital platform with unique browsers increasing by 8% and page impressions increasing by 43% on September last year.

Mr Simons said he was pleased with the company’s magazine group which was performing well in a tough market. New editors of the Weekly and New Idea had revitalised their products, helping to achieve strong growth in subscriber sales.

APN Regional Brands Experience Cross Platform Growth

The print editions of APN’s regional daily newspapers also grew readership in the past 12 months, growing by 4000 to 211,000 New Zealanders on a typical day.

And not only are the newspapers performing well in the regions, but their companion websites also showed strong growth, with unique browsers growing by 49% in September this year.

People have also become more familiar with the sites, engaging with more content, which in turn has resulted in page impressions almost doubling on last year.

ENDS

*Important information:

Readership: Readership results are measured independently by Nielsen Media Research as part of the Consumer & Media Insights survey. The survey is a continuous, face to face survey based on a representative sample of 12,000 New Zealanders aged 10 years and older. Readership results are released quarterly based on a rolling 12-month sample. As a result of under-sampling in Christchurch and its environs due to the February 22nd Earthquake and interviews in Auckland which were removed due to interviewer error the independent survey auditor has recommended that the rolling sample used for the planned October 10 to September 11 readership release, be extended to include sample from Q3, 2010 until such time as ‘catch up’ interviews are completed.

Circulation: The measurement of newspaper and magazine sales is administered by the NZ Audit Bureau of Circulation. Circulation results for magazines and newspapers have previously been released bi-annually based on a 6-month period. From June 2011, newspaper publishers will now release circulation quarterly based on a rolling 12-month period to align with readership results. Circulation for newspapers will be independently audited on an annual basis with publisher

statements based on agreed circulation guidelines issued on a quarterly basis. For more information please refer to the official NZ Audit Bureau of Circulation website: www.abc.org.nz

Information Sources:

- Circulation: The NZ Audit Bureau of Circulation, Publisher Statement, Newspapers 12 months end 30/09/2011, Magazines 6 Month end 30/06/2011. As a comparable 12 month period is not available for year on year comparisons an average of the 12months end June 2011 for newspapers and 6 month end Dec 2010 results for magazines have been used.

- Nielsen Media Research, Consumer & Media Insights: Release period, July 2010 to September 2011, same period last year, October 2010 to September 2011.

- Newspaper readership & brand audience: All people aged 15+, Magazine readership: All people aged 10+

- Online Audience: ComScore Mediametrix September 2011 – monthly audience, Nielsen Site Census, Monthly Unique Browsers October 2010 to September 2011. Magazines & Regional Newspapers September 2011 compared to September 2010.

- Canon Media Awards 2011

© Scoop Media