IRS 2010, Q2: Hindustan top gainer; Jagran records marginal loss

Dainik Jagran has recorded a marginal loss of 70,000 readers in the current round, while the rest of the top dailies have registered growth

This quarter of IRS has spelt good news for most publications in the Top 10 list, unlike the previous round, when there was a decline in readership or marginal growth. Except Dainik Jagran, all dailies in the Top 10 list have registered growth.

Dainik Jagran continues to maintain its lead as the No. 1 daily of the country. However, in the current round of IRS (Q2, 2010), the Hindi daily has lost about 70,000 readers. From 5.43 crore readers, its total readership is now down to 5.42 crore. In the last round, too, Dainik Jagran had lost about 5 lakh readers but had gained 2 lakh readers in R2, 2009. From 5.66 crore total readers in R1, 2008, it has come down to 5.42 crore in the current round.

At No. 2, Dainik Bhaskar has again reported a growth in readership, as in the previous quarter. In Q1, 2010, the Hindi daily had recorded a growth of 4 lakh readers, while in the current round, the newspaper has gained close to 3 lakh readers. However, the newspaper had lost about 8.7 lakh readers in both rounds of IRS 2009, after adding about 33 lakh readers in 2008. Currently, its total readership stands at 3.37 crore, which is about 17 lakh readers more than IRS R1, 2008.

Hindustan, which regained the No. 3 slot in Q1, 2010, is the biggest gainer in the current round. The newspaper has added 15 lakh readers in the current round, taking its total readership to 3.09 crore. The Hindi daily is on a growth spree, having added 14 lakh readers in Q1, 2010. In R1and R2, 2009 and R1and R2, 2008, the newspaper had added a total of 44 lakh readers.

At No. 4, Amar Ujala, which had lost about 3 lakh readers in the previous quarter, has compensated for the loss by adding 2.62 lakh readers in the current one. In R2, 2009, the Hindi daily had gained about 4 lakh readers, while it had lost 9 lakh readers in the previous two rounds (R1, 2009 and R2, 2008). Its total readership now stands at 2.9 crore.

Even in this round, the Marathi daily Lokmat has retained its No. 5 position, which it had gained from Daily Thanthi in R1, 2009. The newspaper, which added close to 11 lakh readers in the previous three rounds, has added about 3.8 lakh readers in the current round. Its total readership in Q2, 2010 is 2.37 crore.

At No. 6, Daily Thanthi, which had added about 1 lakh readers in the previous quarter, has added about 3.46 readers in the current one. In the earlier five rounds of IRS, it had lost about 6 lakh readers. Its total readership in Q2, 2010 stands at 2.07 crore.

The No. 2 Tamil daily, Dinakaran, has added 2.5 lakh readers in the latest quarter, after having added 4 lakh readers in Q1, 2010. However, in the two rounds of IRS 2009, the newspaper had lost about 4.5 lakh readers. In R1, 2008, the newspaper had 1.7 crore readers; that number is 1.7 crore in the current round.

Anandabazar Patrika, the No. 1 Bengali daily, has also added about 1.28 lakh readers in the current round. In the last round, the newspaper had maintained a status quo, while in R2, 2009, it had lost about 1.7 lakh readers. In R1, 2009, though, it had added about 1.21 lakh readers. In R2, 2008, it had lost 1.7 lakh readers.

Eenadu, at No. 9, has added 3.12 lakh readers in Q2, 2010. The newspaper had moved up one position in R2, 2009, pushing Rajasthan Patrika to No. 10 and had maintained status quo in the previous quarter. It has a total of 1.50 crore readers in Q2, 2010. While the newspaper had gained about 5.02 lakh readers between R1, 2007 and R1, 2008; it lost about 7 lakh readers in the next two rounds (R1, 2009 and R2, 2008). However, in R2, 2009, the Telugu daily added about 6.7 lakh readers.

Rajasthan Patrika, which had gained 2 lakh readers in the previous quarter, has added another 4.8 lakh readers in the current one, taking its total readership to 1.46 crore.

The Times of India, India's No. 1 English daily, is at No. 11 with a total readership of 1.34 crore � thus maintaining a status quo. In the current round, it has added about 21,000 readers. In the previous round, though, it had lost about 83,000 readers after adding 2 lakh readers in the prior two rounds.

Sakshi, at No. 12, has added 2.4 lakh readers from the previous quarter, when it replaced Malayala Manorama. From 1.25 crore total readers in the R2, 2009, it has gone up to 1.32 crore in Q2, 2010.

Malayala Manorama, which had lost 3 lakh readers in Q1, 2010, has added about 1.18 lakh readers in the current one. Its total readership is 1.27 crore.

Daily Sakal, the Marathi newspaper, is at No. 14 with a total readership of 1.14 crore � a loss of 56,000 readers. It is followed by Punjab Kesari at No. 15, with a total readership of 1.05 crore.

(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.)