Israel Hayom was the country's most-read daily newspaper on weekdays in 2017, cementing its lead over its rival, Yedioth Aharonoth, a Target Group Index report released Wednesday has found.
The annual TGI report, which reviews Israeli consumption of newspapers and radio, showed that Israel Hayom maintained a clear statistical lead among Israeli readers, with a 35.5% market share. Yedioth's readership came to 31.5%, followed by Maariv (5.5%), Globes (4.6%) and Haaretz (4.4%).
A review of Israelis' newspaper reading habits in the second half of 2017 (July-December) showed Israel Hayom winning 34.4% of the readership compared to Yedioth Aharonoth 30.6%. Maariv's readership came to 5.6%, followed by Haaretz (4.9%) and Globes (4.8%).
Yedioth Aharonoth's weekend edition had a statistically insignificant lead in 2017 with 33.8% of the readership, compared to Israel Hayom's 33.6% market share. The B'Sheva religious magazine was ranked third, with 6.2% of the readership, followed by a tie between Haaretz and Maariv's weekend editions (5.5%), Makor Rishon (3.8%) and Globes (3%).
An analysis of readership trends across the past three years shows a continued decline in the appeal of the printed press. While in 2015 the overall weekday readership of daily newspapers was pegged at 58.3%, readership in 2017 dropped to 51.1%. Weekend readership shows a similar decline, dropping from 61.3% in the first half of 2015 to 53.6% in the second half of 2017.
The TGI report reviews media consumption among Jewish Israelis ages 18 and above, representing a population of 4.2 million people, on an annual and semi-annual basis. The report is based on a survey conducted by the Kantar Media TGI Research and is supervised by the Israeli Advertising Association.
