Magazine audiences climb as advertising outperforms

Stuff Group's three monthly magazines - NZ House & Garden, New Zealand Gardener and TV Guide - have all seen significant audience growth in the latest Nielsen results, with almost 800,000* Kiwis reading them each month, up 6% on the previous year.

NZ House & Garden - the country's most read monthly subscription magazine - increased its readership by 5% to 400,000 while New Zealand Gardener grew 11% to 284,000 and the weekly TV Guide grew 5% to just under 300,000 readers.

Today's results show the magazines were also up on the previous quarter, and were three of only a handful of New Zealand magazines to experience growth year on year. The data coincides with a new Quality of Attention Index which shows Kiwis pay more meaningful attention to advertising in magazines than in other media channels**.

Stuff Owner and Publisher Sinead Boucher says premium print and digital magazines are enjoying a revival as readers seek a calm, finite experience without endless scrolling.

"Whether it's a beautiful, indulgent few hours with NZ House & Garden; the practicalities of expert advice in New Zealand Gardener or the utility of TV Guide cutting through the noise for viewers, our magazines are hitting the right notes for their readers - and for advertisers," she says.

"We are seeing increasing numbers of readers who like the physicality of a magazine and enjoy a like-minded community seeking well curated content. Our Stuff stable features magazines with strong and distinctive voices which we know pays off for advertisers who want audiences to engage with their marketing."

Director of Commercial, Lee Piper, says the Martelletti Consulting's Quality of Attention survey reinforced what publishers have long known - that print and digital magazine readers consume advertising with more focus, active engagement and receptive mindset than other types of media.

"These are premium products with growing readership and a place not only on the magazine stand, but across Stuff's growing subscription news sites The Post, The Press and the Waikato Times," he says.

"The survey shows that readers believe advertising feels more relevant in a magazine environment and that they are more likely to act on that advertising. This is a huge advantage for our advertisers who want to stand out in what is an increasingly noisy world."