IRS 2010 Q1: No major change in readership amongst top 10 publications

After reporting marginal growth in total readership in the last round of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), Dainik Jagran, the No. 1 publication in the country, has lost a few readers. While it had gained around 2 lakh readers in the last round (R2, 2009); it has lost about 5 lakh readers this time. From 5.66 crore total readers in R1, 2008, it has come down to 5.43 crore in the current round.

Dainik Bhaskar, the No.2 publication of the country, has added around 4 lakh readers in the current round (Q1, 2010). This, in a way, has compensated for the loss of 5.9 lakh readers in the previous round (R2, 2009). In R1, 2009, too, it had lost around 2.8 lakh readers; but had gained around 33 lakh readers in both the rounds of IRS 2008. Currently, its total readership stands at 3.34 crore, which is about 14 lakh readers more than IRS 2008, R1.

The No. 3 position amongst dailies has been regained by Hindustan. The Hindi daily has added around 14 lakh readers in the current round (Q1, 2010). In the previous four rounds of IRS (R1&2, 2009 and R1&2, 2008), the newspaper had added a total of 44 lakh readers. In the current round, its total readership stands at 2.94 crore.

Amar Ujala, which has been pushed to No. 4 in the current round, has lost around 3 lakh readers. In R2, 2009, the Hindi daily had gained around 4 lakh readers, partly compensating for the 9 lakh readers it had lost in the previous two rounds (R1, 2009 and R2, 2008). Its total readership now stands at 2.87 crore.

The Marathi daily, Lokmat has retained its No. 5 position, which it had gained from Daily Thanthi in R1, 2009. The newspaper, which added close to 10 lakh readers in the previous two rounds, has added another lakh in the current round. It total readership in Q1, 2010 is 2.33 crore.

Daily Thanthi, at No. 6, has added around 1 lakh readers in the current round. This is a positive indication for the Tamil daily; because in the last five rounds of IRS, it had lost around 6 lakh readers. Its total readership in Q1, 2010 stands at 2.03 crore.

Dinakaran, another Tamil daily has also added 4 lakh readers in Q1, 2010, vis-à-vis the 4.5 lakh readers it had lost in the previous two rounds (R1&2, 2009). However, the newspaper hasn't fully compensated for its previous losses. Two years ago, in R1, 2008, the newspaper had 1.7 crore readers; that number is 1.67 crore in the current round.

Ananda Bazar Patrika, which had been on a roller-coaster ride in the previous few rounds, has maintained status quo this time, with 1.53 crore readers. In R2, 2009, the Bengali daily lost around 1.7 lakh readers; while in R1, 2009, it had added around 1.21 lakh readers. However, in R2, 2008, it had lost around 1.7 lakh readers.

Eenadu, at No. 9, which had moved up one position in the previous round, pushing Rajasthan Patrika to No.10, has also maintained status quo. It has a total of 1.47 crore readers in Q1, 2010. In the last few rounds of IRS, the newspaper had gone through 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 R2, 2009, the Telugu daily added around 6.7 lakh readers.

Rajasthan Patrika, which had lost about 68,000 readers in R2, 2009, has gained 2 lakh readers in the current round. In R1, 2009, it had gained 52,000 readers; but in R2, 2008, the Hindi daily had lost around 3.4 lakh readers. Currently, its total readership stands at 1.42 crore.

The Times of India, India's No.1 English daily, is at No. 11 with a total readership of 1.34 crore. In the last two rounds, it had added around 2 lakh readers; but this time, it has lost around 83,000 readers.

Replacing Malayala Manorama at No. 12 is Telugu daily, Sakshi, which has gained around 4 lakh readers in the current round. From 1.25 crore total readers in the last round, it has gone up to 1.29 crore in Q1, 2010.

Malayala Manorama, which had added around 3 lakh readers in the last round (R2, 2009), has lost an equal number of readers in the current round. Thus, it is back to where it was a year ago – a total readership of 1.26 crore.

Daily Sakal, the Marathi newspaper is at No. 14, with a total readership of 1.14 crore – a loss of 1 lakh readers. It is followed by Punjab Kesari at No. 15, with a total readership of 1.05 crore – a gain of 1 lakh readers.

(Total Readership includes any reader who has read any of the last six issues; whereas average issue readership includes only readers who have read the last issue.)