More people reading the Bay of Plenty Times

Readership figures were released today. Photo / File

More people are reading the Bay of Plenty Times.

New Nielsen figures show the number of people reading the newspaper daily has grown 3000 to reach 29,000 for 2019 versus the previous year.

Scott Inglis, Bay of Plenty regional editor for publisher NZME, said the result reflected the terrific work the paper's journalists across the region, including Tauranga and Rotorua, produced every day.

''The quality, premium content that is being produced has been impressive and clearly it is striking a chord with readers.''

Inglis said the newsroom was committed to bringing readers quality local news and opinion, and making a difference in the community.

Other NZME newspapers showing year on year increases include the New Zealand Herald, up 2000 readers to 455,000, the Herald on Sunday, up 12,000 to 325,000, and Whanganui Chronicle up 3000 to 18,000.

NZME's regional newspapers have huge engagement – along with the NZ Herald, the five newspapers reach 1.013 million Kiwis each day. The overall NZ Herald weekly brand audience is at 1.632 million.

In the magazine stable, Tuesday's Travel magazine leads the charge with 371,000 readers – up a staggering 87,000 readers (31 per cent) year-on-year.
Canvas (339,000, up 39,000 readers), TimeOut (302,000, up 35,000), Viva 231,000 (up 8000) and Sunday Travel 218,000 (up 14,000) have all enjoyed annual increases.

"New Zealanders are hungry for quality, trusted journalism, and our newspapers and magazines are providing this every day," NZME managing editor Shayne Currie said.

"Our readers are hugely engaged and spending many hours luxuriating in the news and feature reads."

A study of readership levels over a five-year period highlights the ongoing strength of print media.

"While much has been made of the fragmentation in the media industry with the ever-increasing number of places for Kiwis to go for news and entertainment, print has remained strong. The NZ Herald has more readers today than it did five years ago," NZME CEO Michael Boggs said.

"It all comes down to trust. We've continued to invest in quality journalism and storytelling and our readers reward us with their loyalty.

"In an age where it can be difficult at times to know where news is coming from, readers of the New Zealand Herald know exactly where we are," Boggs said.

This week NZME also revealed that more than 46,000 New Zealanders are nzherald.co.nz subscribers.

And yesterday, the New Zealand Herald released a new App, with more personalised features and a stronger design.

"So many of our readers are accessing our journalism on the go - so a great App is as important as our award-winning papers, web and mobile sites," says NZ Herald Editor Murray Kirkness.

The source for the readership figures is Nielsen CMI Jan to Dec 2019. AP15+.