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TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY, 2014
//: THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD BRAND AUDIENCE GROWS IN SIZE AND QUALITY
APN’s flagship news title The New Zealand Herald built on its milestone 150th birthday year in 2013 by lifting its daily brand audience to 827,000 different kiwis – a 10,000 increase on the same time last year. Reach of The New Zealand Herald builds to 1,339,000 different consumers over a week.
The Herald remained at the top of New Zealand’s most trusted news brands, looked to for accurate reporting, credible investigations and for getting the facts behind the news that is impacting kiwi lives.
Both the newspaper and the website deliver a highly engaged, high quality audience. Over the last 12 months, this has improved, with gains in the most influential demographics – business decision makers, those employed in the top three occupations, and those in households earning over $100,000 a year.
The Herald’s growth has been led by its digital media platforms. Online visitation has grown by 13% in the last year, to 1,596,000 monthly Unique Visitors. The site remains the most actively engaged of all news sites in the country, and continued traffic growth (+4% YOY), underlines the highly informed news focus of the NZH team, avoiding the temptation to go after “fly by” traffic that builds numbers and not value, is building dividends.
The Herald’s mobile audience has also continued to soar. The NZH mobile app and iPad audiences have both increased by 23% (to 219k and 103k monthly visitors respectively), and the audience on mobile web is up 58% – all in the last 12 months. The flexibility of mobile access is enabling consumers to engage more frequently throughout the day.
Readership of the Herald’s printed edition is currently at 475,000 on a typical day. The withdrawal of a sponsored literacy program to homes in West and South Auckland in Q4 2012 continues to impact readership, with around one third of the YOY decline (-10%) in the last reporting period due to this decision.
Engagement with our print content remains strong, with readers spending 36 minutes on an average day during the week, and 51 minutes on Saturday.
The Weekend Herald remains the best-read paper in the country, with 539,000 readers, and New Zealander’s favourite Saturday magazines, Canvas and Weekend, have both enjoyed audience gains. As well as in-depth reads, the figures show that tips on great things to do and places to see at the weekend are eagerly sought after.
And one year on from the relaunch of the Herald on Sunday, better packaged and with a clearer focus on what Sunday readers want, the team is gratified to report a huge 20,000 (5.5%) increase in readership enabling the Sunday to retain its mantle as the fastest growing paid newspaper in NZ.
One third of our readers say they have noticed that the Herald on Sunday is a lot better now, with many commenting on improvements in the news mix and quality of reporting.
Our network of regional daily newspapers collectively engage with 184,000 people on average each day in print. Our digital footprint continues to strengthen in our regions, with close to 465,000 monthly UBs in December on our regional websites and 167,000 on mobile – an increase of 75% in the last twelve months.
Contact:Martin Simons, CEO APN NZ Media, Tel : 09 373 6400
*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.
Information Sources:- Nielsen Media Research, Consumer & Media Insights: Release period, Q1 – Q4 2013, previous release period, Q4 2012 – Q3 2013. Please note that the Herald’s unduplicated brand audience is understated, as it currently does not include audience from our apps.- Newspaper readership & brand audience: All people aged 15+,- Online Audience: Mobile; Omniture, December 2013 vs December 2012. Comscore, December 2013 vs December 2012, Nielsen Market Intelligence December 2013 (average session duration)