Rolling Stone Australia’s print readership is now officially 152,000

Reports of the death of print have been greatly exaggerated. That is if the readership for Rolling Stone Australia is anything to go by.

According to new Roy Morgan data on the Australian magazine market published, RS Australia bagged 152,000 readers in the year to March 2021, ahead of such staples Australian Golf Digest, Family Circle and Men’s Fitness.

That’s good enough to capture 0.7% of the 14-years-plus population.

Roy Morgan’s readership estimates are “average issue readership” of print titles, and represent the number of Australians who read or look into an average issue of a particular mag.

Morgan Evans photographed in Nashville, in November, 2020. Shot on iPhone 12 Pro Max by his wife Kelsea Ballerini, for Rolling Stone Australia.

The data, however, doesn’t include clicks or “stickiness” of a brand’s web presence or app, and they don’t capture a full 12-months of RS Australia’s activity.

Rolling Stone Australia launched its online platform Feb. 3, 2020, ahead of the debut hardcopy, which rolled off the presses for the first time in May 2020 and featured Tones And I as the cover star.

The partnership to bring Rolling Stone to Australia, under a license agreement between Rolling Stone’s parent company, Penske Media Corporation, and The Brag Media, marks the brand’s tenth international edition.

With publications that cover two decades of history in music publishing, The Brag Media launched in 2017 by acquiring titles Tone Deaf and The Brag and launching two new titles under its brand, including The Industry Observer.

Earlier this year, RS Australia expanded its brand with the inaugural Sailor Jerry Rolling Stone Australia Awards, with the likes of Tash Sultana, Tame Impala, and Midnight Oil winning big on the night. 

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.