The latest Nielsen National Readership Survey shows The Weekend Sun as the most read newspaper in the Western Bay of Plenty.
In its July 2009 to June 2010 annual report, The Weekend Sun was recorded as having 79,000 readers per issue.

Sun Media directors Claire and Brian Rogers have much to celebrate around the company's 10th anniversary with Nielsen reporting The Weekend Sun as the Western Bay of Plenty's most read newspaper.

This is reported by Nielsen as a 'significant change' and represents an increase of 13,000 readers when compared with the July 2008 to June 2009 year.
Following behind in the Western Bay of Plenty is the weekly paper Bay News with 70,000 readers. The region's daily newspapers are also behind The Weekend Sun for readership. The Bay of Plenty Times has 75,000 readers over a week's six issues and The New Zealand Herald has 44,000 weekly readers in the Western Bay of Plenty according to Nielsen.
To be reported as the most read newspaper in the region is satisfying for Sun Media directors Brian and Claire Rogers.
"We started The Weekend Sun 10 years ago and to build it up from nothing to being the number one most read paper is amazing," says Claire.
"Key to the paper's success is community involvement and as the region's only locally owned and operated paper this success is a success for the Bay, its people and its businesses."
The fast growth of The Weekend Sun is being replicated by Sun Media's latest product; daily news website: www.sunlive.co.nz
Also rated by Nielsen, SunLive.co.nz has achieved consistent eighth place ratings in just its first year for domestic traffic amongst New Zealand newspaper and magazine websites. Leading the top 10 are national news websites stuff.co.nz and nzherald.co.nz, with SunLive.co.nz rating second in the top 10 for regionally based news websites behind Otago's odt.co.nz. The National Business Review online consistently ranks fourth.
SunLive's success is also shown by its winning of the 'best website' category in the 2010 New Zealand Community Newspaper Awards.
"SunLive.co.nz is serving the growing public demand to read their daily news online," says Brian.
"People want information fast and only the internet provides the vehicle to meet this demand.
"SunLive's instant news delivery coupled with informative and entertaining reading in The Weekend Sun, as well as in our other major publications, Coast and Country and Waterline, make Sun Media the Western Bay of Plenty's leading news service."