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

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Etymology

Origin of readership

First recorded in 1710–20; reader + -ship

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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

Awad notes that she has an especially huge readership in war-plagued Ukraine, where the book is a breakout bestseller.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

At the publisher Schocken Books, she worked on American editions of Kafka, helping give a second address to a Jewish literature deprived of much of its native readership.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Social media allowed Salgado to cultivate a loyal readership by sharing her poetry for free before even signing her first publishing contract for her book, “Corazón.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2026

He arrived vowing to carry out a digital transformation, stem financial losses and reverse a decline in online readership.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026

Penny papers, the first mass media, gained a wide readership among Americans of all classes.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

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

Such offerings may or may not have raised eyebrows among the journals’ limited readerships.

From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2018

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