APN continues to raise the bar

APN continues to raise the bar

APN has again boosted reader numbers across its portfolio of newspaper, online and magazine brands in the latest readership results released by research company, Nielsen, deepening its already strong relationships with New Zealanders.

The New Zealand Herald has surpassed its previous record, further increasing daily readership to a massive 607,000 New Zealanders aged over 15. This is 39,000 more readers than a year ago and is the fourth consecutive period in which the newspaper has achieved readership growth.

The Herald’s achievements as a multi-media news brand are just as strong, with daily brand audience (print and online) numbers growing by 79,000 to a total audience of 764,000. This increase means just under half the total Auckland population connect with the Herald brand every day and more than two thirds of Aucklanders reach for the Herald every week. No other news brand reaches Aucklanders in this way.

The country’s leading weekly magazine, the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, also continues to dominate magazine readership, with the highest recorded readership of 828,000 (AP 10+) in the newsstand magazine category. The Woman’s Weekly has added 36,000 readers over the last 12 months and extended its lead in the highly competitive weekly woman’s magazine category.

Martin Simons, CEO of APN’s New Zealand media business, said these strong results pointed to a bright future.

“Today’s consumers are connecting with content across a diverse range of media channels – and they are choosing in greater numbers to connect with APN brands.

“Brands that have developed strong emotional connections and deliver a consistent, quality experience for the consumer will continue to lead the market. These survey results prove this trend,” he said.

Mr Simons said APN had been at the forefront of a number of exciting developments in the New Zealand market in 2010.

“The launch of a redesigned Weekend Herald, including the new Weekend magazine, the addition of the Pacific consumer titles to our portfolio and the launch of our new iPad application extend the depth of the APN relationship with New Zealanders and position the company well for future growth,’’ he said.

The latest readership results, released today by Nielsen Media Research, cover the 12 months ending September 2010 and measure the readership of New Zealand newspapers and magazines.

APN metro newspaper brands buck the trends
While other metropolitan newspaper brands in New Zealand have experienced readership declines over the last 12 months, both the New Zealand Herald and the Herald on Sunday have bucked the trend to attract large numbers of new readers.

The Herald’s reader numbers have grown across every daily edition. Advertisers can now choose any of the Herald’s editions, Monday to Saturday, and reach at least 39,000 more readers than by using any other newspaper in the country. Saturday’s edition, The Weekend Herald, reaches double the number of readers of any other daily newspaper in the country.

The success highlighted in the Nielsen Readership Survey is reinforced by Nielsen online measurement data which shows www.nzherald.co.nz continues to show impressive growth trends, with the domestic audience increasing by 31% over the 12 months.

The site’s domestic weekly audience averaged 798,000 over the most recent quarter, with a record audience of 941,000 in the week of the Canterbury earthquake, highlighting the value and importance of the Herald as a credible and accurate news source during significant events of this kind.

This period also included the highly successful launch of the Herald’s iPad application in June with 24,000 downloads made to date.

The Herald on Sunday is also the only Sunday newspaper to have increased readership over the last 12 months adding 3,000 readers to reach 383,000 people aged over 15 years. The Herald on Sunday leads the Sunday newspaper category in the Northern region with 57,000 more readers, and in Auckland with 41,000 more readers than any other Sunday title.

Readership of all Herald and Herald on Sunday, newspaper inserted magazines has contributed solidly to the year-on-year growth. Canvas (450,000) and Time-Out (417,000) are the best read in the Herald portfolio and are now the top two magazines in the Auckland region. Time-Out (+58,000), Viva (+36,000 to 328,000), Travel (+54,000 to 351,000) and The Business Herald (+53,000 to 410,000) have all achieved significant readership growth in statistical terms. The Business Herald has more than five times as many readers as any other business magazine in New Zealand.

Newsstand magazine leader widens the gap

The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly has extended its lead over it closest rival in the weekly woman’s magazine category to 29,000 since the previous readership release. The inclusion of popular weekly woman’s titles New Idea (459,000, +6,000) and That’s Life (292,000, +37,000) in the APN stable provide the company with an un-rivalled strength in this category with an un-duplicated readership of over one million readers.

The entire New Zealand Magazines profile has maintained or increased readership since the previous readership release. The New Zealand Listener achieved an increase of 3,000 readers to 269,000. Teen magazine titles, Creme (up 7,000 to 156,000) and NZ Girlfriend (up 7,000 to 195,000) made strong gains. Simply You has added 9,000 readers to record 117,000 and Time has added 6,000 to reach 208,000

*Readership results are measured independently by Nielsen Media Research as part of the National Print Readership 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

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