"Not only is the Herald team breaking big news and keeping New Zealanders up to date with topical coverage on events such as Team NZ's brilliant America's Cup win, the Lions tour and the election, we are driving in-depth and investigative stories to bring important issues to light.
"Break the Silence, our series on suicide, has had a positive response from New Zealanders," Alexander said.
"These results are fantastic, and to see our readership continue the upward trend across consecutive surveys is outstanding and a testament to the teams in our newsrooms across New Zealand.
"We are delighted our content is resonating with our audience."
The Herald on Sunday remained the most-read, and highest-selling Sunday newspaper in New Zealand.
Readership increased 2000 readers from the previous period, Nielsen putting it at 337,000 and a weekly circulation of 84,360.
Several of the Herald's inserted magazines have also increased readership from the previous survey period.
Tuesday Travel readers have increased 5000 to 266,000; Weekend has 4000 more readers, bringing its readership to 284,000; and foodies are enjoying Bite, up 1000 readers to 203,000.
Canvas was the most-read inserted magazine, reaching 286,000 readers each Saturday.
The recently launched Sunday Travel section has reached an audience of 201,000 readers.
When combined with Travel on Tuesday, NZME Travel in print reached 346,000 people a week, according to the data.
Overall, the Herald's readership across print and online was up 17.6 per cent year-on-year, to a total audience of 988,000.
The weekly audience has also seen a rise, up 13.1 per cent to reach a total of 1.55 million people.
NZME acting chief commercial officer Matt Headland said the readership also showed the company's multi-platform offering was meeting what readers and advertisers expected, and needed.
"The Herald is tracking strongly. NZME is continuing to expand its digital channels to work alongside print. The recent launch of the new nzherald.co.nz site will continue to strengthen the power of NZME journalism, while NZ Herald Focus and Local Focus add another element to our news stories the audience can engage with," he said.
NZME's regional titles also grew readership numbers against the previous period.
The Wanganui Chronicle was up 1000 to 26,000; Hawke's Bay Today readers grew to 46,000; and Rotorua Daily Post increased readership to 21,000, up by 3000.
"Across regional print and online publications, radio platforms and the Herald, we are able to offer advertisers formidable reach through a variety of channels, allowing audiences to engage with content when, where and how they like it, in the medium most suited to them," Headland said.
And nzherald.co.nz, which was relaunched in June this year, now reaches 1.84 million New Zealanders a month, increasing traffic 32 per cent on the same period last year.
There were 3.5 million average weekly unique browsers visiting the website last month alone.
Video content brand NZ Herald Focus received on average more than 1.8 million views across NZME's platforms each week.
In August, the NZ Herald Facebook page reached almost 10 million users and received more than 33 million engagements.
The Herald team had a strong year at the 2017 Canon awards in May, collecting Website of the Year, Newspaper of the Year, Best Weekly Newspaper and Best Daily Newspaper over 30,000 - among others.
The company added to its accolades at last night's Panpa awards, when Stephen Parker from the Rotorua Daily Post won the Sport, Regional category in the photography section.
