<font color="#FF0033"><b>IRS Round 1, 2005</b></font>: Jagran, Bhaskar are on top; Lokmat, Thanthi gain

Hindi dailies Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar have retained the top two slots among the urban and rural markets in India as per the IRS 2005 Round 1 reports.

Dainik Jagran had the maximum growth at 6.03 per cent with an addition of 10.71 lakh readers. In terms of absolute numbers, Dainik Jagran's readership now stands at 1.75 crores.

The number two publication Dainik Bhaskar grew by 2.89 per cent with a cumulative readership of 1.38 crores.

Daily Thanthi, with a readership of 93.86 lakhs, has replaced Malayala Manorama at the third position. The Tamil daily has moved ahead from the fourth position (IRS 2003-04, Round 2), registering a growth of 2.6 per cent.

Amar Ujala, the Hindi daily, has also moved one step ahead to the fourth position growing at the rate of 4.8 per cent. The readership of Amar Ujala is 92.76 lakhs.

Malayala Manorama, which was the third most-read publication in the previous round of IRS, has moved to the the fifth position in the current round. The readership of Malayala Manorama has declined marginally by 3.75 per cent to 88.62 lakhs.

Telugu newspaper Eenadu has maintained its sixth position, it's readership has also marginally grown by 1.98 per cent.

Lokmat is another daily, which has taken a huge leap in this round through its combined editions - Lokmat and Dainik Lokmat. Dainik Lokmat has Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Greater Mumbai and Solapur editions, while Lokmat has Akola, Nagpur, Jalgaon, Nashik and Pune editions. The Marathi newspaper has grown by 12.89 per cent, and has jumped two positions from ninth to seventh. The readership of the Marathi daily stands at 82.23 lakhs.

Hindustan and Mathrubhumi have registered a growth of 3.21 per cent and 3.41 per cent, respectively. As per the IRS 2005, Round 1, the total readership of Hindustan is 81.95 lakhs, while Mathrubhumi's readership is 76.16 lakhs. Despite the good show, Hindustan and Mathrubhumi – which were at the seventh and eighth positions, respectively, in the previous round – have moved down by one position to the eighth and ninth positions, respectively.

Hindi magazine Saras Salil marginally declined by 2.63 per cent, but managed to retain its tenth position. The total readership of Saras Salil is 70.84 lakhs, as per the IRS 2005, Round 1 figures.

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