Woolworths and Coles already have a stranglehold on Australian groceries. Now their dual dominance has expanded to the under-pressure magazine industry.
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Their free mags, Coles Magazine and Fresh by Woolworths, have an average issue readership of 2.9 million, according to readership figures from the latest Enhanced Media Metrics Australia (EMMA) survey.
The figures mirror Roy Morgan Research, which said Coles Magazine was the best-read magazine in the year to June, with 2.9 million readers per average issue, while readership of Fresh was up 30 per cent year-on-year to 2.2 million.
The EMMA results, released on Monday, demonstrate strong demand for food content. News Corp's recipe site taste.com.au had readership of 3.2 million, which was down slightly.
But in magazines, Bauer Media's Woman's Day retained its crown as the best-read publication across print, web, mobile and tablet, albeit with a slightly lower audience of just under 3.9 million in September. It was followed by Pacific Magazines' New Idea at 3.6 million, flat on the previous month.
Better Homes and Gardens had a total monthly audience of 2.8 million, just ahead of Bauer Media's Australian Women's Weekly, which improved to just under 2.8 million.
Print advertising fell by 18 per cent in the six months to June, recent Commercial Economic Advisory Service of Australia figures showed. Overall, Fairfax Media's The Sydney Morning Herald retained its position as Australia's best-read news publication, with readership rising to 5.6 million in August.
News Corp tabloid The Daily Telegraph was the next best read, with a reduced 4.3 million monthly readers, followed by its Melbourne counterpart, the Herald Sun, with a dip in readers to 4.2 million.
Fairfax's The Age was flat at 3.4 million, while News Corp's Brisbane publication, The Courier-Mail, had a fall in readers to 3.1 million.
News Corp broadsheet The Australian saw its readership jump to 3.3 million, while Fairfax's The Australian Financial Review was flat at 1.4 million.
Magazines inserted into weekend newspapers had strong readership, with the Herald's Good Weekend having an average issue readership of 625,000 and 505,000 from its insert in the Saturday Age.
Similarly, the News Corp glossy insert Sunday Style in NSW and Victoria had an average issue readership of more than 600,000 in each state.
EMMA was launched last year by industry body The Readership Works. Publishers prefer EMMA figures, which also track readership of newspaper-inserted magazines and newspaper sections as well as online readers, over readership data from market research company Roy Morgan.
But Ben Willee, of Spinach Advertising, said Emma had to "work hard" in the battle against Morgan as media agencies and ad agencies were loath to buy two readership measurements.
