IRS 2007, Round 2: Growth for ‘Bhaskar’, ‘TOI’, ‘ABP’, ‘Rajasthan Patrika’; other top dailies decline

The biggest losers have been ‘Mathrubhumi’ and ‘Lokmat’, which have not even made it to the list of top 10 dailies in the current round of IRS

The much awaited IRS Round 2 data is out – especially after the NRS has been shelved for some time, the IRS data becomes much sought after.

As per IRS 2007 Round 2, most dailies in the top 10 list have shown a decline in readership, except for ‘Danik Bhaskar’, ‘Rajasthan Patrika’, ‘The Times of India’ and ‘Ananda Bazar Patrika’.

The biggest losers have been ‘Mathrubhumi’ and ‘Lokmat’, which have not even made in to the list of top 10 dailies – they held the eighth and 10th positions, respectively, in the last round of IRS.

Meanwhile, ‘Dainik Jagran’ continues to lead the lists of top 10 publications and of the top 10 dailies, with an average issue readership (AIR) of 1.65 crore. However, its AIR has declined by 3.5 per cent since the previous round.

‘Jagran’s close competitor, ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, has registered a growth in AIR of 2.4 per cent, thanks to its new editions that were launched in Punjab. This Hindi daily has grown its readership by 3 lakh as compared to the previous round. Currently, its readership stands at 1.28 crore, inching closer to ‘Dainik Jagran’.

‘Malayala Manorama’ has moved up one rank, but it, too, has experienced negative growth. Its AIR has declined from 88.37 lakh in Round 1, 2007, to 86.62 lakh in Round 2, IRS 2007.

‘Hindustan’, which was at number three in the previous round of IRS, has seen the maximum decline (5.5 per cent) in readership among the top dailies. It has slipped one rank with a readership of 85.51 lakh, down from 90.52 lakh in Round 1, IRS 2007.

Similar to the third and fourth position, the fifth and sixth position have also been interchanged between ‘Amar Ujala’ and ‘Daily Thanthi’. However, both these dailies have seen a decline in readership in the current round of IRS. While ‘Amar Ujala’ at number five has declined by 2.1 per cent to an AIR of 80.75 lakh, ‘Daily Thanthi’s readership has declined by 5.2 per cent to 79.1 lakh.

At number seven, ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ has again shown an increase in readership by 6.5 per cent, highest among the top 10 dailies. It readership has increased from 69.46 lakh in the previous round to 74.02 lakh in the current round. This Rajasthan based Hindi daily has also moved up by two position, pushing ‘Eenadu’ to eighth rank.

‘Eenadu’, meanwhile, has registered a decline in readership by 4.34 per cent, with its readership currently standing at 69.19 lakh.

At number nine and 10 are ‘ABP’ and ‘TOI’, which have moved up from number 12 and 11, respectively. ‘ABP’ has increased its readership by 4.84 per cent, taking its average issue readership to 68.55 lakh, while ‘TOI’ has increased its readership marginally by 0.69 per cent to 68.28 lakh readers in the current round of IRS.