readership

American  

[ree-der-ship] / ˈri dərˌʃɪp /

noun

• readerships
  plural

1. the people who read or are thought to read a particular book, newspaper, magazine, etc..

   The periodical has a dwindling readership.

2. the duty, status, or profession of a reader.

3. (especially in British universities) the position of instructor or lecturer.

4. the state or quality of being a reader.

   appealing to a higher level of readership.

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readership British  

/ ˈriːdəʃɪp /

noun

1. all the readers collectively of a particular publication or author

   a readership of five million

   Dickens's readership

2. the office, position, or rank of university reader

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• readerships
  plural

Etymology

Origin of readership

First recorded in 1710–20; reader + -ship

Explanation

Readership is another way to talk about all the readers of a particular book or periodical. If your online magazine has a readership of five, and one of them is your mom, it's not a roaring success. A newspaper, website, or author's readership is their audience — it's the group of people who regularly read their publication. The local zine writer might have a readership in the dozens, while the Harry Potter books have a vast readership, numbering in the millions. When newspapers and magazines started to lose their readerships, many turned their attention to online versions.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

readership readerships

Nonfiction titles about politics and other topics often aimed at men are losing readership and sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

It bought HuffPost in 2021 to bolster its readership and offerings to advertisers.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

Not only has a slew of HR complaints tempered her icy remarks, but slashed budgets and declining readership have forced her hand.

From Salon ● May 6, 2026

The paper’s readership, 2,500 only a few years earlier, surged to 180,000 by the end of 1856.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026

To a readership obliged to watch in disbelief as the legions toppled one Greek-speaking kingdom after the other, Polybius begged to offer some historical context.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

The Rothermeres’ acquisition of the Telegraph would bring together two right-leaning publications that target different readerships.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025

But by the 60s they, and especially Owen, had found large new readerships.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025

But it has yet to fall his way, often going to writers with smaller readerships, like this year’s winner, Norwegian Jon Fosse.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2023

While translators deserve credit for giving Chinese readerships a glimpse into Britain's former socio-cultural mores, their strategies sometimes failed to connect food culture in Austen's era to contemporary Chinese culture.

From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2022

His friends and collaborators, from Neil Young to Robbie Robertson, had found willing readerships for their life stories, but Jones, ever the sideman, didn’t think in terms of a hero’s journey.

From New York Times ● Oct. 17, 2019