‘Rolling Stone Australia’ Print Readership Grows to 224,000

Rolling Stone Australia continues to buck trends in the market for magazines as the iconic title rolls towards a quarter million readers.

According to new Roy Morgan data on Australia’s printed magazine space, RS Australia bagged 224,000 readers in the year to December 2022, up 17.3% compared with the year-before period.

RS Australia performed “strongly” during the period, the market research company reports, for a fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

It’s a result that places the print magazine of RS Australia ahead of such staples as Gourmet Traveller, Vogue Living, Harper’s Bazaar, Who and Money Magazine.

“The Brag Media is thrilled to see our print music title grow and grow in Australia,” comments Poppy Reid, Editor In Chief of The Brag Media, publisher of RS Australia.

“Our first Rolling Stone AU/NZ print offering hit shelves two months after the pandemic hit, so to see this double-digit growth for the fourth consecutive quarter is nothing short of amazing,” Reid continues.

The music, politics, and pop culture feast launched as an online experience Feb. 3, 2020, followed closely by its hardcopy version, the first of which hit newsstands on May 2020 and featured Tones And I as the cover star.

Since then, the likes of Tash Sultana, Keith Urban and Daniel Johns have graced its cover.

The partnership to bring Rolling Stone to Australia is a license agreement between Rolling Stone’s parent company, Penske Media Corporation, and The Brag Media, which launched in 2017.

Today, The Brag Media is recognised as Australia’s largest independent entertainment media company, publishing a raft of prestigious brands including Variety, Tone Deaf and The Music Network.

In tandem with those print and online editions, the Rolling Stone Australia Awards return to Sydney next month.

Sponsored by Shure, the 2023 Rolling Stone Australia Awards is set for April 4, with Amy Shark, Vance Joy, Spacey Jane, Keith Urban and The Wiggles among the nominees.

Also, the inaugural Panhead Rolling Stone New Zealand Awards took place August 2022 in Auckland, with Six60 and Lorde among the winners.

“We’ve been so lucky to bring longform journalism to local readers – even our recent issues have broken new ground,” adds Reid.

“Our current collector’s edition of the ‘Most Iconic Music Moments’ has been dubbed a coffee table book, and our Sep-Nov issue featuring cover stars The Wiggles made headline news, making it a global moment.”

Reid and her team “look forward to continuing to do things differently with each issue and I can’t wait to see what readers think of our next cover reveal.”