New Roy Morgan readership figures show Australia’s magazine industry finding new audiences, with some segments growing readership.

Food and entertainment, home and garden, general interest and ‘mass women’ segments were all up year on year.

The report for the 12 months to June shows a total of 15.2 million Australians aged 14+ (72.0 per cent) read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app. This is down four per cent, or 628,000, from a year ago.

Print magazines accounted for 12 million, (56.8 per cent), down 2.2 per cent.

“Although overall industry readership figures are down slightly compared to a year ago, this is largely due to the closure or suspension of many titles during 2020 as the industry grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic and the nation-wide lockdown,” the report says. “The good news is that many magazine titles have resonated with new audiences during a tough year and are thriving, with solid readership increases seen across many categories.”

Readership of the food and entertainment category increased by 10.8 per cent to more than 7.1 million; general interest was up 6.1 per cent to over 4.1 million; home and garden increased by 17.8 per cent to over 3.8 million; and mass women's was up 3.8 per cent to more then three million.

Top 15 Magazines by print readership – June 2021