The Times of India has retained its leadership position in both Delhi and Mumbai according to the Round 1 of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008. An interesting point here is that the readership of key publications in Delhi has seen a clear decline unlike in Mumbai, where players have managed to hold on to their readers.
In Delhi, The Times of India’s readership dipped by 1 per cent to 2,113,000, whereas in Mumbai, the paper has registered a marginal increase from 1,553,000 in the last round to 1,571,000.
Delhi per se has shown decline for all the players. Hindustan Times, the second highest read publication in Delhi, has seen a drop of 2 per cent from 1,907,000 in the last round to 1,862,000. The Hindu has dropped 14 per cent drop from 92,000 to 79,000, while Indian Express, which had a readership of 68,000 in 2007 Round 2, has dropped to 66,000 in this round, registering a 3 per cent dip.
On the other hand, in Mumbai, all players, with the exception of Indian Express, have shown an increase in readership. Market leader The Times of India has seen a 1 per cent increase, while its sibling Mumbai Mirror has increased by 3 per cent with a readership of 737,000, thus becoming the second most read paper in Mumbai. DNA, with a readership of 622,000 is at No. 3. The daily has show a 3 per cent rise from the 603,000 it had in the last round.
Mid-Day has seen a 4 per cent increase in readership from 516,000 that it had in IRS 2007 Round 2 to 538,000 in this round. The Hindustan Times has registered an 8 per cent increase – from 354,000 to 381,000, while Indian Express has seen a 16 per cent fall, from 81,000 in the last round to 68,000 in this round.
Also read:
IRS 2008 R1: Dainik Jagran continues the lead in Hindi dailies; TOI leads English
IRS 2008 R1: No surprises in the language wise leaders as well
IRS 2008 R1: Saras Salil continues its lead in the overall magazine genre
