IRS Special: Voracious Readers? - Presented by MINT

Prajjal Saha | afaqs! | New Delhi, June 08, 2009
The newspaper is alive and well. The newspaper-reading habit is alive and well. So says Round 1 of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2009. And why is it alive and kicking when, in the more advanced countries, the trend is that of falling readership and circulation?

The print media’s health has a direct correlation with the literacy (according to the Census, a person is literate if he can sign his name while the IRS defines a literate as someone who can read and write one language) rate of the country . This is because while other media such as television, radio or outdoor can be consumed by illiterates too, print is restricted to those who can read.

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One reason why print in India has still been growing - unlike in other advanced markets - is that only 65 per cent of the 12-plus population in India is literate. There is scope to grow. As the level of literacy increases, these new readers are very likely to consume (read) newspapers and, to a lesser extent, magazines.

In India, it is the regional language and Hindi daily, not English that has benefited from the basic growth in literacy. New readers are most likely to read a newspaper in their own language rather than in English. The Hindi to English conversion happens at the second stage, much later. In the last two years, the literate population of the country increased by 8.3 per cent - which means that there are 4.5 crore new readers. How of these new literates converted to daily readers?

Ups and downs

Amongst the the top 20 states in Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, readership growth has been faster than the literacy growth. Interestingly, all these four states were ranked the lowest in newspaper penetration - below 50 per cent.

For instance in Orissa, in R1, 2007, the newspaper penetration was only 35 per cent. Literacy in this state went up by 10 per cent and total newspaper readership by 25 per cent between then and R1 2009. In Bihar, the literate population increased by 5.6 per cent while readership too went up - by 19.5 per cent.

Similarly, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have increased literacy rates by more than 10 per cent, while total readership moved up by 18 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.

Of late, publishers have become aggressive in these markets. New editions were launched, and sampling of newspapers was increased. As a result, the markets expanded. For instance, Bihar and Jharkhand have been the fastest growing markets for Dainik Jagran. Besides, many of these markets have been so underdeveloped that just reading a newspaper is considered to be a sign of progression.

What about markets where the literacy rate is close to saturation? Even these markets have experienced growth. In Kerala, for instance, where the newspaper penetration was highest (the figure is 78 per cent) readership moved up by 5 per cent.

The local advantage

R S Suriyanarayanan, media director, Lintas Media Group, says, “In states such as Kerala and Punjab, young readers who are the new literates, have a huge affinity towards their local language and product. They like reading and flaunting their own language.” There is no space for any other language except the local. For instance, English dailies have a reach of only 4 per cent in Kerala. And in Punjab, only The Tribune has been able to make a mark (The Tribune has often been referred to as a Punjabi newspaper in English).



Growth in literacy doesn’t always contribute to the growth of readership. Consider the case of Delhi. Though literacy grew by 13 lakh, readership rose by just 4 lakh.

Says a senior media observer, “A metropolis follows different rules. In a big city, the readers are evolved and young readers who contribute to literacy growth are moving to other media, especially the internet.” But there are certain non-urban centres where such a shift has been witnessed.

Take the case of a state like Gujarat. Despite a literacy growth of 10 per cent, its readership declined by 9 per cent. Observers say that this is due to the increasing popularity of the internet in the villages. Besides, none of the existing dailies have tried to give themselves a push in the market through refurbishing content. So what else hinders readership growth?

The Polarity Syndrome

A uni-polar situation in certain markets can also dampen the growth of readership. Madhya Pradesh (MP) - for long dominated by Dainik Bhaskar - despite a 16.6 per cent growth in literacy, has had only a 1.6 per cent growth in readership. But media experts believe that the growth in MP will be reflected in a few years’ time as Rajasthan Patrika’s entry will expand the market in no small way.



A similar situation was experienced in Rajasthan a few years ago when Dainik Bhaskar had helped expand the market after breaking the monopoly of Rajasthan Patrika. The result is evident now as with a literacy rate as low as 55 per cent - one of the lowest - Rajasthan had a newspaper penetration of more than 65 per cent.

The situation in West Bengal is just the reverse. Here, the literacy rate is as high as 75 per cent, but its newspaper penetration is still at 42 per cent. Media observers blame the uni-polar phenomenon for a situation in which there is only one big paper, Ananda Bazar Patrika. Says A S Raghunath, a media consultant, “In a market where the leader gets 80 per cent of the advertising revenue and there is no close second competitor, there is a sense of complacency and the existing players are not interested in giving a push.”

West Bengal has another unique problem. Unlike in other states, West Bengal has only two printing centres - in Kolkata and Siliguri. West Bengal’s geographic spread is also linear. As a result in many districts, newspapers reach only by afternoon - the early editions carry stale news. This has dampened the reading habit in the state.

In fact, the increasing number of printing centres and localised editions can only spur readership in a state. Take Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the two states which are the leaders in readership with more than 4 crore daily readers each. There are more than 11 printing centres in each state.

Despite the peculiarities of each market, what should gladden the hearts of publishers of dailies in India is that reader interest shows no signs of slowing down. That is the best message that every successive round of IRS sends out.

© 2009 afaqs!

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