NRS 2003: Bhaskar is unbeatable at No 1; TOI overtakes HT in Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Friday (December 19) directed the National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) - which brings out the print media readership estimates or the National Readership Survey annually - to come out with its report for 2003 within a week. A day after, on Saturday, at 9.00 pm, NRSC announced the topline findings of NRS 2003.

According to the survey findings, the pecking order for the top 10 national dailies is as follows: Dainik Bhaskar is at the top of the heap with readership of 15.7 million, Dainik Jagran follows with 14.9 million, then comes Daily Thanthi with 10 million, Eenadu with 9.4 million, Malayala Manorama with 8.7 million, Amar Ujala with 8.6 million, Hindustan with 7.89 million, Lokmat with 7.86 million, Mathrubhumi with 7.6 million and The Times Of India (TOI) with 7.4 million.

Perhaps the most interesting finding of the study - and one that resulted in a hastily called press meet by the TOI group in the capital on Sunday evening - The Times Of India has emerged as the most read newspaper in the capital. An average of 1.4 million readers in Delhi went through TOI, compared with an average of 1.3 million readers for the Hindustan Times. The survey shows that TOI scored over Hindustan Times in all readership segments. Students as well as younger audiences (12-24 years) showed a greater preference for the TOI.

Here's how the Top 10 magazines (rural and urban) stack up. Hindi publication Saras Salil tops the list with readership of 9.3 million, followed by India Today (Hindi) at 5.9 million. The other eight magazines that complete the Top 10 list are: Vanitha (5.5 million), Grihashobha (5.41 million), Malayala Manorama (5.4 million). Meri Saheli (4.2 million), India Today (English) (4.1 million), Balarama (a children's magazine in the Malayalam at 3.9 million), Mangalam (3.5 million) and Filmfare (3.5 million).

For the record, the NRS is commissioned by the NRSC, which has members from the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Indian Newspaper Society. The survey has been conducted jointly by four market research agencies including IMRB, TNS-Mode, AC Nielsen and ORG-Marg. "NRS 2003 is based on the latest census 2001 enumeration," says the official communiqué.

According to the survey, the print media commands a readership of 187 million in the age group of 12 and above, and 45 per cent of these readers come from rural India. "In an environment of increasing media options, the print medium has retained its audience," the NRS release said.

According to the release, NRS 2003 covers 2,300 rural villages and 837 urban towns. In fact, to provide subscribers "more robust and actionable data", Round I of NRS 2003 has taken a sample size of 1.4 lakh respondents, of which as many as 42,000 are from rural India. Among the new features of the readership survey is the inclusion of younger age-group of 12 to 15 years keeping in mind the fact that this particular age group is increasingly influencing household purchase as indicated by various studies. © 2003 agencyfaqs!