More people reading the Chronicle: Survey

More people are reading the Whanganui Chronicle each day, according to the latest Nielsen survey.

The newspaper has a daily average issue readership of 24,000, up 5000 on the same time last year, and up 1000 on the previous quarterly survey.

“We saw a lot more locals turning to us during the peak of Covid-19 lockdown, when the desire and need for news reached new highs,” regional editor Kim Gillespie said.

“That we’ve managed to hold on to those readers and gain even more is testament to the great job the

Whanganui Chronicle team are doing.”

Whanganui Midweek’s readership is up 9 per cent, or 2000 readers from 22,000 a year ago to 24,000.

Whanganui Chronicle’s sister NZME papers the Bay of Plenty Times, the Rotorua Daily Post and Hawke’s Bay Today have all grown readership year on year.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand

Herald’s overall print-digital readership is at record levels and newspaper readership is at its highest in almost a decade.

Nielsen’s readership insights survey reveals nearly 2 million people access New Zealand Herald (print and digital) journalism each week.

The number of New Zealanders choosing to read the daily New Zealand Herald newspaper has increased by 26 per cent over the past 12 months to 585,000 — the highest since 2011. More than 1 million Kiwis read the New Zealand Herald newspapers across the week.

“These readership numbers are staggering. It’s very rewarding — and evidence of the faith that Kiwis have in us to provide quality, trusted journalism and information when it’s needed the most,” NZME managing editor Shayne Currie said.

The Weekend Herald readership has grown to 678,000 readers and Herald on Sunday readership has grown to

370,000 readers.

The company’s Premium digital subscription service is on the verge of reaching another milestone — with nearly 50,000 digital paid subscribers. The total number of subscribers including those who access Premium as part of their New Zealand Herald print subscription is now more than 94,000.

“We are continually setting the bar higher for our Premium subscribers. In the last few months, we’ve included new features for subscribers via our new NZ Herald App, and we’ve added the opportunity for commenting online on selected stories,” NZ Herald Head of Premium Miriyana Alexander said.

Source: Nielsen CMI Q4 19 — Q3 20 AP15+