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After reporting a decline in readership in the previous two rounds of IRS, Dainik Jagran, the No.1 publication of the country, has shown a marginal growth in total readership in the current round of IRS (Round 2, 2009). It has added around 2.1 lakh readers.
In R1, 2008, Dainik Jagran had recorded a total readership of 5.66 crore, which was an increase of 29.5 lakh readers compared to the previous round. However, in the last two rounds of IRS (R2, 2008 and R1, 2009), Jagran's total readership had declined by around 20 lakh readers. In the current round of IRS, its total readership stands at 5.48 crore.
In terms of average issue readership (AIR), the newspaper has added only 24,000 readers almost maintaining a status quo with an AIR of 1.6 crore.
Dainik Bhaskar, the No.2 publication of the country, has recorded a marginal decline in total readership for the second consecutive round. In the current round, the Hindi daily has lost around 5.9 lakh readers while in the previous round, it had lost around 2.8 lakh readers. However, Dainik Bhaskar had shown a growth in readership in the both the rounds of IRS of last year (R1 and R2, 2008) – the newspaper had added around 33 lakh readers in these two rounds. Currently, its total readership stands at 3.3 crore – around 10 lakh readers more than in IRS 2008, R1
Though the No.2 Hindi daily has recorded a decline in total readership, the average issue readership for Dainik Bhaskar has maintained a status quo having added a marginal 2,000 readers. Its AIR is 1.28 crore.
Though, Amar Ujala had recorded a decline in total readership by around 9 lakh readers, in the previous two rounds, the Hindi daily has managed to compensate by adding around 3.95 lakh readers in the current round of IRS (R2, 2009). Its total readership now stands at 2.9 crore – still holding the No. 3 position.
However, as per AIR, Amar Ujala is at No.5 behind Hindustan and Malayala Manorama. The Hindi daily's AIR is 82.99 lakh – an increase of 1.16 lakh readers.
At No.4, Hindustan has been showing a continuous growth for the last few rounds of IRS. In the previous three rounds of IRS (R1, 2009 and R1&2, 2008), it had added more than 32 lakh readers. Even in the current round (R2, 2009), the Hindi daily has added around 12 lakh readers taking its total readership to 2.8 crore. However, as per AIR the Hindi daily holds a higher rank. At No. 3, the average issue readership of Hindustan is 93.36 lakh – an addition of 33,000 average issue readers.
The Marathi daily, Lokmat has retained its No.5 position which it had gained from Daily Thanthi in the previous round (R1, 2009) of IRS. As per IRS 2009, R2, the newspaper has added around 26 lakh readers taking its total readership to 2.32 crore. Even in the previous round (R1, 2009), the newspaper had added 7.2 lakh readers.
However, as per AIR, Lokmat is ranked only at No.8 with an average issue readership of 71.04 lakh – an increase of 3.15 lakh readers.
Daily Thanthi, at No.6, in terms of total readership, has again recorded a decline in readership after having lost around 4 lakh readers in the last few rounds. Last round (R1, 2009), the Tamil daily had lost around 1.2 lakh readers, while in the current round, it has lost another 2 lakh readers. In fact, in the last four rounds of IRS, its total readership has declined from 2.08 crore to 2.02 crore. This Tamil daily has also seen a decline in average issue readership with a loss of 88,000 readers.
Daily Thanthi's rival, Dinakaran, another Tamil daily has also recorded a decline in total readership for the third time in a row. While in the last round, it had lost around 1.9 lakh readers, this time the decline in readership is slightly higher as it has lost around 2.6 lakh readers. From 1.7 crore total readers in R1, 2008, the Tamil daily is now at 1.63 crore. Though, it's ranked No. 7 as per TR, it doesn't even feature in the top 10 in the AIR list, where it's ranked at No. 13 with a readership of 52.71 lakh.
Ananda Bazar Patrika at No.8 has also lost around 1.7 lakh readers. In the previous round (R1, 2009), the Bengali daily had added around 1.21 lakh readers, however in the round before that, it had lost around 1.7 lakh readers. The Bengali newspaper has also seen a declined in average issue readership having lost around 75,000 readers in the current round. Its current AIR is 64.74 lakh.
Eenadu at No.9 has moved up by one position pushing Rajasthan Patrika to No. 10. In the last few rounds of IRS, the newspaper has gone through a few ups and downs in readership. While it had gained around 5.02 lakh readers between R1, 2007 and R1, 2008, it lost around 7 lakh readers in the next two rounds (R1, 2009 and R2, 2008). However in the current round, the Telugu daily has added around 6.7 lakh new readers – thus taking its readership from 1.42 crore in R1, 2007 to 1.47 crore in R2, 2009. However, in terms of AIR, the Telugu newspaper has lost around 3 lakh readers and it's ranked at No. 12 with an AIR of 62.24 lakh.
Rajasthan Patrika, which had gained 52,000 readers in the last round (R1, 2009) – thus claiming the No.9 position from Eenadu, has lost around 68,000 total readers in the current round. In R2, 2008, the Hindi daily had lost around 3.4 lakh total readers. Even in terms of AIR, the Hindi daily has lost around 1.82 lakh readers with its average issue readership coming down to 64.86 lakh readers.
The Times of India, India's No.1 English daily is at No. 11 with a total readership of 1.35 crore – a gain of 1.8 lakh readers. Last round it had a marginal growth of 12,000 readers. Though, the English daily is ranked quite high as per AIR. At No. 7, its average issue readership is 71.42 lakh – an increase of 2.7 lakh readers.
Malayala Manorama at No. 12 has also added around 3 lakh readers in the current round takings its total readership to 1.29 crore. In fact as per, AIR, the Malayalam daily is ranked at No.4 with an AIR of around 91.83 lakh.
Telugu daily Sakshi is a new entrant at No. 13 with a total readership of 1.25 crore. As per AIR, it is ranked No. 15 with 45.56 lakh average issue readers.
Daily Sakal, the Marathi newspaper is at No. 14 with a total readership of 1.15 crore – a gain of 1.36 crore followed by Punjab Kesari at No. 15 with a total readership of 1.04 crore. The Hindi Daily has, however, lost around 1.53 lakh total readers. However, the newspaper's average issue readership has increased by around a lakh readers taking its AIR to 34.25 lakh.
(Total Readership includes any reader who has read any of the last six issues, where as average issue readership includes only those readers, who have read the last issue.)
© 2010 afaqs!From krishna babu, Tue 24 Nov 2009 12:24:22 PM the growth in readership of publications has proved that importance of print media among public. it will continue in the years to come on par with education in the country. it also required to educate the people about their requirements . thanks to media onceagain for its overwhelming and continuous supoort in highlighting the problems of the society.
