Growing Australian newspaper smartphone and tablet audiences are helping compensate for the continuing fall in print circulations.
Monthly stats from The Newspaper Works' EMMA show 16 per cent growth on June 2014 for mobile phones and three per cent for tablets, although most readers still prefer to access the content through print. Desktop and laptop digital readership rose a further two per cent.
The metric counts those who have accessed newspaper content - in print or digital forms - in a four-week period.
Despite the smartphone growth, the total audience was up by only one per cent on 2014 (to 16.4 million) with print readership down four per cent to 13.8 million readers.
TNW says newspaper media now reaches "92 per cent of Australia's metropolitan population", and nine out of ten adults aged 14 and over. PCs are still the most popular digital platform among all major age groups, reaching a claimed 53 per cent of under-25s, 57 per cent of 25-39s, 65 per cent of 40-54s, and 54 per cent of people over 55 during the period.
Readership of mobiles skews towards younger readers - reaching 20 per cent of under-25s and 34 per cent of 25-39s - while tablets are favoured by older readers, used by 16 per cent of 40-54s and three per cent of over-55s.
TNW chief executive Mark Hollands says the latest data "confirms the enduring popularity" of print: "Across print and digital platforms, six Australian mastheads each reach more than two million readers over four weeks, and another four reach more than 1 million - an impressive achievement in our fragmented landscape.
"It confirms newspapers' influential place in Australians' media mix."
The Sydney Morning Herald again achieved Australia's highest cross platform reach with a total audience of 5.11 million readers followed by the (Sydney) Daily Telegraph with 4.12 million and the (Melbourne) Herald Sun on 3.87 million.