West Australian Newspapers readership: Roy Morgan figures reveal staggering growth in cross-platform audience

The West’s cross-platform readership has grown a staggering 858,000 readers in the past year to 4.14 million people — a 26 per cent rise that is the biggest by any major metro news organisation over the period.

It comes on the back of huge readership rises in newspaper audiences, with our daily newspaper up 23 per cent and The Sunday Times up 40 per cent.

And the biggest newspaper gains were in the crucial 14-29 demographic — up 89.2 per cent. The Roy Morgan data shows how on a per capita basis West Australian Newspapers outperforms any other media company in cut-through.

In WA, 82 per cent of the population reads The West’s print or digital mastheads every month. About 17 per cent of the population reads a printed copy of The West every day.

In comparison, just 5 per cent of Sydneysiders read the Sydney Morning Herald and just 7 per cent of Queenslanders read the Courier Mail. WAN editor-in-chief Anthony De Ceglie said the figures were the end result of the company’s mission to “turbocharge” its digital offerings by diversifying into audio and video.

How The West’s readership growth compares to other mastheads

“I’m really proud of how we’ve transformed our online offerings to be world class,” De Ceglie said.

“People expect us to do breaking news and exclusives well, but we’re now much more than that.

“Our morning daily radio show, ‘The West Live’, is a genuine disrupter and its host Ben O’Shea should be commended for building a large and loyal following.

“We’ve just launched a new nightly TV show called ‘Up Late with Ben Harvey’, which is a parochial and provocative look at the most important issues of the day. We’re only three weeks in and people are hooked and it’s one of the most talked about things in Perth.

“All of this and more, such as our award-winning multi-part true crime documentaries, are why our paid-online subscription model has been so successful since it launched.”