The Australian Financial Review has increased its average monthly audience by 70,000 to 3.7 million readers across online and print in the September quarter as the COVID-19 surge in readership wanes and cost-of-living concerns cause households to cut back on spending.

The national business masthead’s total audience was up 2 per cent to 3.7 million readers compared with the September quarter last year, and down 1 per cent compared with the June quarter, according to research from Think News Brands, an industry group for the Australian news industry.