Top 10 Most Popular Newspapers in Australia

Top 10 most popular newspapers in Australia

Australia's longest-running newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, was first published as the Sydney Herald in 1831. The Herald's rival, The Daily Telegraph, was first published in July 1879. Weekly newspapers were an important feature of the Australian newspaper scene in the nineteenth century.

Here are top 10 most popular Australian newspapers by circulation.

The list of top 10 most popular newspapers in Australia

10. The West Australian

9. The Australian Financial Review

8. The Australian

7. The Advertiser

6. The Age

5. North Shore Times

4. The Sydney Morning Herald

3. The Courier-Mail

2. The Daily Telegraph

1. Herald Sun

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What are the most popular newspapers in Australia today?

10. The West Australian

Photo: ABC

The West Australian, widely known as The West, is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times. The West is the second-oldest continuously produced newspaper in Australia, having been published since 1833. The West tends to have conservative leanings, and has mostly supported the Liberal–National Party Coalition. It has Australia's largest share of market penetration (84% of WA) of any newspaper in the country.

The newspaper publishes international, national and local news. As of 23 February 2015, newsgathering was integrated with the TV news and current-affairs operations of Seven News, Perth, which moved its news staff to the paper's Osborne Park premises. SWM also publish two websites from Osborne Park including thewest.com.au and PerthNow. The daily newspaper includes lift-outs including Play Magazine, The Guide, West Weekend, and Body and Soul. Thewest.com.au is the online version of the daily newspaper available to subscribers.

As of January 2015, refraining from reporting greatly reduced print circulation, the paper claimed "readership across print and online platforms" of 1.8 million per month (a daily average of less than 70,000). Online readership is limited by requirement of paid subscription ($10 per week or $520 p.a.) According to Roy Morgan Research, total cross-platform readership is less than 50,000 daily, having declined 4.5% in the year to September 2014.

9. The Australian Financial Review

Photo: AFR

The Australian Financial Review (abbreviated to the AFR) is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, Australia; owned by Nine Entertainment Co and has been published continuously since its founding in 1951. The paper was initially owned by Fairfax Media but was sold along with the parent company to Nine Entertainment for AUD$2313.8 million. The AFR is published in compact format 6 times a week, whilst providing 24/7 online coverage through its website: www.afr.com. In November 2019, the AFR reached 2.647 million Australians through both print and digital mediums (Mumbrella).

The Australian Financial Review started as a print-only weekly newspaper in 1951, before changing to a bi-weekly in 1961, and a daily newspaper in 1963. The paper now publishes multiple magazines and a supplementary weekend paper, which was launched in 1995. In that same year, the AFR website was also released, which helped to expand its readership base across all audiences.

Historically, the AFR's news articles and editorials favoured neo-liberal ideals, influencing Australian policy debates during the 1970s - 1980s. During the 2000s, the AFR took on the role of the 'corporate watchdog', scrutinising businesses and the government for foul play and corruption. In more recent years, the AFR's editorial stance and news coverage has become more neutral. However, it is still considered moderately conservative in its reporting bias with regards to free market regulation policies, but relatively close to the centre in its political views amongst Australian newspapers.

8. The Australian

Photo: The Australian

The Australian, with its Saturday edition, The Weekend Australian, is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership as of September 2019 of both print and online editions was 2,394,000. Its editorial line has been self-described over time as centre-right.

Daily sections include national news ("The Nation"), world news ("Worldwide"), sport news, and business news ("Business"). Contained within each issue is a prominent opinion/editorial (op/ed) section, including regular columnists and occasional contributors. Other regular sections include technology ("Australian IT"), media (edited by Darren Davidson since 2015), features, legal affairs, aviation, defence, horse-racing ("Thoroughbreds"), the arts, health, wealth, and higher education. A traveland indulgence section is included on Saturdays, along with "The Inquirer", an in-depth analysis of major stories of the week, alongside much political commentary. Saturday lift-outs include "Review", focusing on books, arts, film, and television, and The Weekend Australian Magazine, the only national weekly glossy insert magazine. A glossy magazine, Wish, is published on the first Friday of the month.

"The Australian has long maintained a focus on issues relating to Aboriginal disadvantage.” It also devotes attention to the information technology, defence and mining industries, as well as the science, economics, and politics of climate change. It has also published numerous special reports into Australia's energy policy, legal affairs, and research sector.

7. The Advertiser

Photo: The Advertiser

The Advertiser is a daily tabloid format newspaper published in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. First published as a broadsheet named The South Australian Advertiser on 12 July 1858, it is currently a tabloid printed from Monday to Saturday. The Advertiser came under the ownership of Keith Murdoch in the 1950s, and the full ownership of Rupert Murdoch in 1987. It is now a publication of News Corp Australia. Through much of the 20th century, The Advertiser was Adelaide's morning broadsheet, The News the afternoon tabloid, with The Sunday Mail covering weekend sport, and Messenger Newspapers community news. The head office was relocated from a former premises in King William Street, to a new News Corp office complex, known as Keith Murdoch House at 31 Waymouth Street.

The Advertiser is available for purchase throughout South Australia and some towns and regions in New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory located near or adjacent to the South Australia state border such as Broken Hill, Mildura, Nhill and Alice Springs. According to The Advertiser's website, the newspaper is read by over 580,000 people each weekday, and by more than 740,000 people each Saturday. Circulation figures reported in May 2016 by Roy Morgan Research showed a continuing decline in readership, of 324,000 on weekdays, and 371,000 on Saturdays.

The Advertiser's website, adelaidenow.com.au, was rated by third-party web analytics providers Alexa and SimilarWeb as, respectively, the 268th and 313rd most visited website in Australia, as of August 2015. SimilarWeb rates the site as the 29th most visited news website in Australia, attracting almost 1.8 million visitors per month. In 2015, along with other News Corp websites, The Advertiser's website adopted a paywall with non-subscribers being locked out of "premium" content.

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6. The Age

Photo: Nine for Brands

The Age is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and southern New South Wales. It is delivered both in print and digital formats. The newspaper shares some articles with its sister newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Age is considered a newspaper of record for Australia, and has variously been known for its investigative reporting, with its journalists having won dozens of Walkley Awards, Australia's most prestigious journalism prize. As of March 2020, The Age had a monthly readership of 5.321 million.

Three Melbourne businessmen, brothers John and Henry Cooke (who had arrived from New Zealand in the 1840s) and Walter Powell founded The Age. The first edition appeared on 17 October 1854.

The Age's purpose-built former headquarters, named Media House, was located at 655 Collins St, Docklands, Melbourne, Victoria. After acquisition by Nine, The Age moved to 717 Bourke St, Docklands, Melbourne, Victoria to be co-located with their new owners.

5. North Shore Times

Photo: Jane Jackson Career Coach

The North Shore Times is an Australian local newspaper, serving the local government areas of Willoughby, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove and part of North Sydney.

Like the Northern District Times, the paper is one of News Limited's community newspapers in New South Wales. It is delivered free to homes and businesses every Thursday as of July 2016 after originally being a Wednesday and Friday publication. The Wednesday publication of The North Shore Times was established in 1960 and the Friday publication was established in 1989.

At present, the circulation of both the Wednesday and Friday publications of the North Shore Times reaches approximately 75,000 homes and businesses with the estimated total number of people who read the newspaper being around 112,000. The majority of North Shore Times' readers are in the 35–49 and 50–64 age groups.

4. The Sydney Morning Herald

Photo: Nine for Brands

The Sydney Morning Herald, daily newspaper published in Sydney, Australia’s oldest and one of its most influential papers.

The Sydney Herald, founded by three English emigrants—William McGarvie, Alfred Ward Stephens, and Frederick Stokes—was first issued as a weekly in 1831 and became a daily in 1840. The following year another Englishman, John Fairfax, bought control of the paper, which remained in the hands of his family for 149 years. “Morning” was added to its name in 1842.

The paper’s editorial stance is conservative. It has combined serious reporting of national and international news developments with coverage of popular news stories dealing with such subjects as law enforcement and police activities. Not until 1944 did The Sydney Morning Herald discontinue front-page advertising. In the 1950s and ’60s the Herald won international repute for its dedication to responsible journalism, its appeal to diverse audiences, and its coverage of the arts and literature. In the 1980s the Fairfax media empire fell into financial decline and began selling off assets. The Fairfax Group, which included The Sydney Morning Herald, came briefly (1991–96) under the control of Canadian media mogul Conrad Black before Black sold his interest to another firm.

3. The Courier-Mail

Photo: The Courier Mail

The Courier-Mail began its life in 1846 when Arthur Lyon, and James Swan, published the first edition of the Moreton Bay Courier as a weekly.

In 1861 it became The Courier which it remained until it merged with The Daily Mail in 1933, in response to the effects of the Depression on both papers, thereby becoming The Courier-Mail. It was by then a daily newspaper which had survived where many others had failed and focused on the interests of Queensland. Sir Keith Murdoch was the founder of The Courier-Mail in its merged form and for nearly 20 years was its principal shareholder and dominant figure.

Following his death in 1952, Sir Keith’s controlling interest in Queensland Press Ltd owner of The Courier-Mail was sold. The Herald and Weekly Times Limited emerged with control that lasted until 1987 when Rupert Murdoch’s family company acquired the controlling interest which his father had earlier hoped for.

The Courier-Mail is now owned by News Corporation. It is widely regarded as Queensland’s newspaper due to its longstanding coverage of important matters of the day across the vast areas of the State, including triumphs and failures; floods, droughts and wars; human interest stories and holding governments and bureaucracies to account. The paper is especially acknowledged for its advocacy for Queenslanders and its courageous investigative journalism which uncovered widespread official corruption and led to the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

The “Courier-Mail Test” has since emerged as the unofficial rule of thumb for measuring decision-making by public officials and others. Over its life, the paper has been regarded as a good employer and a large employer of journalists who have gone on to media leadership positions nationally and internationally. Its role as an advertising medium has been central to the growth of many other businesses across Queensland.

It has continued its historical commitment to innovation by recently transitioning from broadsheet to tabloid format and investing heavily in a digital strategy to successfully compete in the increasingly competitive media world of 24 hour news and current affairs across print, tablet, mobile phone and pc. However, decades of dominance in advertising real estate, jobs and cars, has been challenged by the disruptive forces of competing digital advertisers.

Nevertheless, after nearly 170 years, The Courier-Mail remains one of Australia’s leading newspapers across print and digital formats and is one which has reflected and become part of Queensland’s culture and character.

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2. The Daily Telegraph

Photo: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph, also nicknamed The Tele, is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales by News Corp Australia. It is published Monday through Saturday and is available throughout Sydney, across most of regional and remote New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland.

Amongst those ranked by Nielsen, the Telegraph's website is the sixth most popular Australian news website with a unique monthly audience of 2,841,381 readers.

Founded in 1879, The Daily Telegraph ran as a broadsheet until 1927, when it switched to a tabloid format. The paper returned to a broadsheet format in 1931, but paper restrictions during the Second World War saw it return to tabloid format in 1942. From 1936 until its sale to Rupert Murdoch's News Limited in 1972, the Telegraph was owned by Sir Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press.

In February 1957, Prime Minister Robert Menzies barred Telegraph correspondents from his press conferences because the paper had been critical of his policies.

In October 1990, at the same time as a merger took place between its Melbourne sister papers The Sun News-Pictorial and The Herald, the Telegraph merged with its afternoon sister paper The Daily Mirror to form The Daily Telegraph-Mirror with morning and afternoon editions.[8] The new paper continued in this vein until January 1996, when its name reverted to The Daily Telegraph. The paper continued morning and afternoon editions until January 2002, when the afternoon edition was discontinued.

The circulation of the Telegraph during the June quarter 2013 was 310,724 on weekdays, the largest of a Sydney newspaper. In the 2013-14 financial year it decreased 9.65% to 280,731. In the financial year ending June 2019, the Mon-Fri readership of the Daily Telegraph declined 10.9%. The Saturday readership declined by 19.3%.

1. Herald Sun

Photo: Herald Sun

The Herald Sun is a daily newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. The Herald Sun primarily serves Melbourne and the state of Victoria and shares many articles with other News Corporation daily newspapers, especially those from Australia.

It is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and southern New South Wales such as the Riverina and New South Wales South Coast, and is available digitally through its website and apps. In 2017, the paper had a daily circulation of 350,000 from Monday to Friday.

The Herald Sun newspaper is the product of a merger in 1990 of two newspapers owned by The Herald and Weekly Times Limited: the morning tabloid paper The Sun News-Pictorial and the afternoon broadsheet paper The Herald. It was first published on 8 October 1990 as the Herald-Sun.

The hyphen in its title was dropped after 1 May 1993 as part of an effort to drop the overt reminder of the paper's two predecessors that the hyphen implied, and also by the fact that by 1993, most of the columns and features inherited from The Herald and The Sun News-Pictorial had either been discontinued or subsumed completely in new sections.

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