14.8 million Australians read magazines in print or online

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 27-Nov-24

The Roy Morgan Australian Readership report for the 12 months to September 2024 shows that 11.5 million Australians aged 14+ (51.1%) now read print magazines. This market broadens to 14.8 million Australians aged 14+ (65.6%) who read magazines in print or online either via the web or an app. There were widespread increases in print readership over the last year with six magazine categories increasing their readership. The most widely read magazine category continues to be Food & Entertainment, with a massive readership of 7,408,000, over 3 million ahead of any other magazine category and reaching nearly a third of the population. Better Homes & Gardens is still Australia’s most widely read paid magazine, with print readership of 1,825,000 (up 1.1 per cent from a year ago), ahead of The Australian Women’s Weekly on 1.2 million. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey of 64,871 Australians aged 14+ in the 12 months to September 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

News Publishing reaches 21.8 million Australians with engagement across multiple brands

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 26-Nov-24

The latest Total News Publishing readership figures from Roy Morgan show that news now reaches 21.8 million Australians aged 14+ each month, and 18.4 million every week. The Roy Morgan data underscores the depth and diversity of Australians’ engagement with news; some 93 per cent of Australians read up to five news brands every month, 63% engage with at least three categories in any given month and 51% engage with four or more news brands. However, General News remains the most read category at 93% of the population. These figures shine a light on the variety of news publishing content and the passions of highly engaged and attentive audiences that advertisers can tap into. The Total News Publishing audience data is based on monthly readership averaged over the 12 months to September 2024.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Crown versus Alan Jones, accused sexual predator

Original article by Stephen Lunn, Liam Mendes, Ellie Dudley
The Australian – Page: 1 & 7 : 19-Nov-24

Veteran broadcaster Alan Jones was charged on Monday with 24 counts of historical sexual and assault ­offences by NSW police, with his lawyer, Chris Murphy, saying Jones "denies any misconduct" and will "assert" his innocence in court. The charges followed Jones’ arrest at his Circular Quay apartment at around 7.45am, with his alleged offences involving eight males. Assistant commissioner in charge of state crimes Michael Fitzgerald told a press conference that the youngest of Jones’s alleged victims was 17, and that police ­believe more people would come forward with allegations against Jones; Jones was granted conditional bail to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on 18 December.

CORPORATES

ABC sorry for fake gunshot in Afghanistan stories

Original article by Sophie Elsworth, James Madden
The Australian – Page: 2 : 6-Nov-24

The interim report of an independent review of the ABC’s ‘fake audio’ scandal has concluded that there is no evidence that the public broadcaster’s employees had any intention to mislead audiences by doctoring the Afghanistan footage. However, director of news Justin Stevens has released a statement on the ABC’s website in which he says the broadcaster "sincerely regrets and apologises" for the editing errors which resulted in additional gunshots being added to the video footage of an Australian military operation in Afghanistan. Stevens also said the video editor who had worked on the stories has left the ABC.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

A giant of Australian journalism, George Negus dies at 82

Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 16-Oct-24

Media industry identities have paid tribute to veteran journalist George Negus, following his death at the age of 82. Negus was one of the founding team of reporters on the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program, while he was also a presenter on the ABC’s Foreign Corresponde and SBS’s Dateline in a career that spanned both print and broadcast journalism. Negus had been coping with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in recent years, and his family has released a statement advising that he died "surrounded by loved ones" after a "gracious decline" from the disease.

CORPORATES
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

Nine exec quits before cultural review hits

Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 3 : 15-Oct-24

Nine Entertainment has lost another executive, with the departure of its director of communications and public relations, Victoria Buchan. Interim CEO Matt Stanton has indicated that her exit was by mutual agreement as part of a restructuring of the media group’s leadership team. Buchan’s departure is not believed to be linked to the upcoming release of the findings of an independent review of Nine’s workplace culture. The review was sparked by the exit of Darren Wick, the former director of news and current affairs; Buchan is said to have been close to Wick, who had been accused of inappropriate conduct.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

A numbers game: how NRL can claim it’s the most watched sport

Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Oct-24

Data from OzTAM shows that the NRL Grand Final on Sunday attracted a national television audience of 3.4 million. The AFL Grand Final a week earlier was watched by 4.06 million people. However, the NRL’s premiership showdown was viewed by 762,000 people via the Nine Network’s free 9Now streaming platform, compared with a streaming audience of 654,000 for the AFL season decider via the rival 7plus app. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo contends that rugby league has a larger TV audience than any other sports code in Australia. The NRL will soon begin to negotiate a new broadcasting rights deal beyond 2027.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, 9NOW, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, 7PLUS, OZTAM PTY LTD

Racism at ABC systemic, new report declares

Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 7 : 2-Oct-24

The ABC’s MD David Anderson says the public broadcaster’s staff will be given anti-racism training following the belated release of a racism review. The independent review was commissioned in mid-2023 and found that ABC employees from Indigenous and culturally diverse backgrounds have been subject to systemic racism. The review has made 15 recommendations aimed at addressing the issue, while Anderson has apologised to current and former ABC employees who had been subjected to racist behaviour.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

ABC fields on protest coverage

Original article by James Dowling
The Australian – Page: 2 : 1-Oct-24

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has lodged a complaint against the ABC over its coverage of Lebanon and Gaza solidarity protests in Sydney and Melbourne on Sunday. Its complaint related to multiple live crosses from the Sydney protest and an evening package covering the Melbourne rally, with the package of the Melbourne rally criticised for not telling viewers that Hezbollah is a registered terrorist organisation, or for mentioning the display of Hezbollah flags at the rally. In its response to criticism of the package covering the Melbourne rally, the ABC noted it was the third of three stories on the events in Lebanon commissioned for 7pm news bulletins, and that the earlier stories had provided full context on the conflict.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN JEWRY

Billionaire Gordon closer to unlocking larger Nine stake

Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 18-Sep-24

Several sources have indicated that regional broadcaster WIN Corporation is close to finalising a deal to sell Northern Rivers Television to the Ten Network. NRN broadcasts in northern NSW, and the TV station is tipped to fetch significantly less than the $55m that WIN paid for it in 2017. However, divesting NRN would allow WIN owner Bruce Gordon to increase his stake in Nine Entertainment to about 25 per cent by converting cash-settled equity swaps that are held on his behalf by Macquarie Group into shares.

CORPORATES
WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG