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IRS 2011 Q1: Hindustan and Jagran register growth
Of the top ten publications, Dainik Bhaskar, Daily Thanthi, Dinakaran, Eenadu, Rajasthan Patrika and Ananda Bazar Patrika, have registered a decline in total readership during Q1 IRS 2011.
In the latest quarter of IRS (IRS 2011 Q1), all the Top 10 publications have retained their positions as per total readership (TR). While the top publications, DainikJagran and Hindustan (which acquired the No. 2 slot in the last quarter), have maintained their growth sprees, DainikBhaskar (the No. 3 publication) has lost total readership.
The No. 2 daily, Hindustan, which has been the biggest gainer, has added 72 lakh in total readership since Q1, 2010. It has added 14.19 lakh readers in the latest quarter of IRS. In fact, the daily has added more than a crore readers in the past three years.
The No. 3 publication of the country, DainikBhaskar, which slipped one step in the last quarter, has retained the No. 3 position this time, though it has lost readership. The Hindi daily with a total readership of 3.34 crore has registered a loss of 5.53 lakh readers in this quarter. In the previous quarter (Q4, 2010),while the newspaper had slipped one step, it had added 1.81 lakh readers.
Sitting at No. 4 spot is Amar Ujala with a total readership of 2.96 crore-- 38 lakh readers less than the No. 3 daily. The daily has added a marginal readership of 29,000 in this quarter. The Hindi newspaper had recently launched an NCR edition, apart from strengthening its presence in Haryana.
At No. 6 is the country's largest Tamil daily, Daily Thanthi, with total readership of 1.98 crore. The daily has lost 3.5 lakh readers this time, as well. In fact, the Tamil publication had lost around 3.5 lakh readers in Q4, 2010. Since Q1, 2010, the daily has lost 5.16 lakh readers.
The No.7 position is taken up by Dinakaran, Daily Thanthi's arch rival, with a total readership of 1.62 crore. The daily has also lost 3.91 lakh readers this time. In the last one year, it has lost 5.86 lakh readers, a little more than Daily Thanthi.
The No. 8 publication of the country is Eenadu, which had moved up by one position to No. 8 in Q3, 2010. It has registered a marginal loss of 40,000 readers. The No. 1 Telugu daily had lost 2.9 lakh total readers in Q4, 2010.
Rajasthan Patrika, which had lost about 93,000 readers in Q4, 2010, has again lost 1.21 lakh readers in this quarter. The No. 9 publication of the country, despite losing readers in the current quarter, has added 3.14 lakh readers in the last one year (since Q1, 2010).
At No. 10 position is AnandabazarPatrika, the biggest loser among the Top 10 publications. The daily has lost 9.14 lakh readers since Q1, 2010. The Bengali daily has a total readership of 1.44 crore this time, a decline of 93,000 from the last quarter. The daily has been slipping since the last few quarters.
(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.)