Catalogues continue to expand their reach, with more Australians over 14 now reading catalogues during an average week than newspapers or community newspapers, according to the latest data from Roy Morgan Research.
Almost 10.5 million Australians read or looked into one or more catalogues during an average week in the year to June 2015, a return to levels not seen since 2012 – and the growth looks set to continue.
From more than 11 million in 2011, catalogue readership declined to around 9.5 million Australians in 2013, but rebounded, bucking the continuing downward trend for newspapers.
At the end of last year, catalogue readership surpassed that for non-community newspapers, and the gap has continued to widen. Today, catalogues reach more than 600,000 more readers in an average seven day period than these newspapers, and around 4.3 million more than local orcommunity newspapers.
Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan Research, said that if the upward trend for catalogues continues, catalogue weekly reach is heading towards the combined reach of all newspapers, including local and community papers.
“With reach dipping just below half in 2013, catalogues have recovered strongly – 54 percent of Australians now read at least one during the week,” said Levine.
“Roy Morgan’s market research insights into how Australians use catalogues are used by media agencies, advertisers and leading direct marketing firms,” she said.
