IRS 2017 to release in third week of January

In a recent development, Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI), formed jointly by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC), and the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), has announced that the IRS 2017 will be released in the third week of January 2018.

The IRS 2017 is a full year Report covering four quarters of fieldwork.

Commenting on the release of the report, Ashish Bhasin, chairman, MRUC and chairman and CEO - South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Networks, says in a press release, “Absence of IRS data in the past three years or so has impacted our industry in many ways. It was difficult for the agencies to plan without the availability of a comprehensive and reliable study, which provides valuable information on product ownership, demographics, and media consumption habits, across markets. Advertisers and Publishers, in particular, relied heavily on intuition and market perception, leading to loss of opportunity in maximising profitability. We are delighted that the IRS is back and we expect that this will set a new standard for Print Research globally.”

Pratap Pawar, vice chairman, MRUC and chairman, Sakal Media Group, says in a press release, “The print industry has been eagerly awaiting the release of IRS. I would like to thank the stakeholders for having shown tremendous patience and also for providing their unstinted support to the industry study, which was really great to see. Going forward MRUC and the IRS would continue to deliver the best and tread on higher paths of glory.”

Shashi Sinha, chairman, RSCI Managing Committee and CEO, IPG Media Brands, says in a press release, “There is no other readership study in the world other than the IRS that caters to a complex and diverse market like India with a sample as large as three lakhs plus households, and with a methodology designed to deliver gold standard research. I believe the RSCI Techcom and the MRUC has put in a lot of effort to perfect the upcoming Report, making it future-ready and synonymous with the market truths.”

NP Sathyamurthy, chairman - RSCI Technical Committee and executive director, DDB Mudra Group, says in a press release, “After months and months of dedication, we have come out with a product that we believe is truly world-class. The IRS has constantly innovated with new technology led solutions to improve veracity of data capture quarter-on-quarter, and the sheer focus on data scrutiny which we deployed makes us believe that the new improved IRS would reap rich dividends for the industry stakeholders.”