IRS Round 2 reports: Most leading newspapers grew in NCR

While Navbharat Times readership has declined marginally by 12 per cent, Amar Ujala's readership has increased by 25,000 taking it the third position

Dainik Jagran continues to be the leading daily in the Delhi urban environ - commonly known as the NCR market, which includes Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and Noida, with a readership of 3.52 lakhs, as per the IRS round 2, 2003-04 reports.

The publication has grown by 4 per cent in this market from 3.38 lakh readers in the last round of IRS.

While The Times Of India continues to be the second-highest read daily in NCR with a readership of 1.67 lakhs, there has been in changes in the third, fourth and fifth position.

Interestingly, while the overall readership of The Times Of India's all editions have decreased marginally, the readership has increased by 7 per cent in NCR. In the round 1 of IRS 2003-04, TOI's readership in NCR was 1.56 lakhs.

Amar Ujala, which was at the fifth position in the previous round of IRS, has moved up to the third position, registering a 19 per cent growth in readership in round 2 with a readership of 1.55 lakhs. While Dainik Bhaskar has also registered a readership growth of 6 per cent, it has been pushed to the fourth position in the present round. The total readership of Dainik Bhaskar in the NCR market is 1.49 lakhs.

Hindustan Times which was the fourth-highest read publication in round 1 has been pushed to the fifth position, although it has registered a growth of 5 per cent in readership. The current readership of Hindustan Times in NCR, as per round 2, is 1.37 lakhs.

Punjab Keshri maintains its position as the sixth-highest read daily with a readership of 1.13 lakhs. The readership of Punjab Keshri has increased by 10,000 readers registering a growth of 10 per cent as compared to the round 1.

Hindustan, which shared the seventh position Navbharat Times in the previous round, has increased its readership by 7 per cent taking its total readership in NCR to 61,000. In the previous round the readership was 57,000.

Navbharat Times, which was also at the seventh position in terms of readership in the previous round, has been pushed to the eighth position as its readership has marginally declined by 12 per cent to 50,000 readers.

Rashtriya Sahara whose readership in round 1 of IRS 2003-04 was 12,000 has increased by 52 per cent to 17,000 readers in the present round.

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