7 July 2009

• More than eight in 10 Australians read at least one magazine.  
• 85 per cent of females and 78 per cent of males read one or more magazines.  
• 28 per cent of people are classed as heavy magazine users, reading five or more issues.  
• A third of females (33.2 per cent) and just over one fifth of males (21.7 per cent) are heavy magazine users.  
• The average age of heavy magazine readers is 44.4 years, younger than that of heavy commercial TV viewers (49.7 yrs), heavy commercial radio listeners (45.6 yrs) or heavy newspaper readers (50.9).  
• Advertisers can reach word-of-mouth influencers more effectively through magazines than other media.  
• Trusted Advisers and Early Adopters in categories such as diet and food products, nutrition and health, fashion and skin care, home decorating and new supermarket brands, are more likely to be magazine readers than users of TV, radio, newspapers or the internet.  
• Magazine readers are also more likely to outspend other media users at the supermarket, with 24 per cent spending $200+ weekly vs. 19 per cent of the population, 21 per cent of heavy TV viewers and 20 per cent of heavy internet users.  
• More than 207 million copies of ABC audited magazines were sold in 2008. 
• The retail value of annual magazine sales in 2008 was over $1 billion ($1.025b).  
• Advertisers spent $788.1 million in consumer magazines in 2008. Almost one in every 10 dollars spent on National (i.e. Display) advertising goes to magazines.

Sources:
Roy Morgan Readership Survey, April 2008 – March 2009, all people 14+ yrs.
CEASA (Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia) Advertising Expenditure in Main Media, December 2008.
Annualised magazine sales based on ABC Jan.-June and July-Dec. 2008