Financial Review print readers flow back: Roy Morgan

afr.com:

The Australian Financial Review has recorded a solid recovery in print readership following the interruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to industry audience numbers released by Roy Morgan.

More than 1.1 million people read a print edition of the Financial Review in the four weeks to the end of June, with the masthead experiencing its fourth consecutive quarter of growth, and a 9 per cent year-on-year increase.

The Australian Financial Review’s total print readership rose 9 per cent.  

The Monday to Friday Financial Review newspaper recorded a 50 per cent increase in average readership of each day’s edition over the year, and a 10 per cent increase in the quarter, to 245,000. In contrast, The Australian recorded an annual drop of 13 per cent, according to the Roy Morgan figures compiled for industry body ThinkNewsBrands.

The Financial Review‘s Editor in Chief, Michael Stutchbury, said he was encouraged by the recovery in print readership, particularly for AFR Weekend.

“While the big growth in digital readership during the pandemic has eased back amid the cost-of-living crunch, the Financial Review’s digital-only readership still lags that of only The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age among newspaper brands,” Mr Stutchbury said.

“All this was consistent with another 8 per cent growth in premium subscribers for the Financial Review over the financial year.”

The Roy Morgan numbers are based on a moving annual total to even out short-term fluctuations.

On that basis, the Financial Review’s overall monthly audience fell by 8 per cent to 3.4 million over the past year, reflecting a lagged correction in the surge in digital readership during the pandemic.