The Media Research Users Council (MRUC) organised an industry meet in Mumbai on November 4 to present the top line readership data and the various trends on media reach.
According to a presentation made by Hansa Research's Ashok Das, print reach shows a higher growth compared to population as well as any media, which is at 9.3 per cent. Within print, dailies are driving reach growth, which has increased by 12.8 per cent. Growth of reach of dailies in line with the increase in number of literates and from 2005 to 2008, it has increased from 27,79 lakh to 31,34 lakh. Magazines show a negative growth (-20.9 per cent), a decline from 11,47 lakh in 2005 to 9,07 lakh in 2008.
However, regularity of reading, as seen by the Average Issue Readership (AIR) measure is coming down. Both dailies and magazines show this trend. Average issue readership of publications, dailies and magazines has declined by -8.4 per cent, -7.4 per cent and -37.6 per cent, respectively.
From 2005 to 2008, publication (AIR) has dropped from 18,48 lakh to 16,93 lakh, while daily (AIR) has declined from 16,94 lakh to 15,68 lakh, and magazine (AIR) declined from 6,17 lakh to 3,85 lakh.
FM radio, Internet and TV (C&S) continue to show the highest growth and according to the figures it has increased by 56.3 per cent, 55.9 per cent and 36.7 per cent, respectively, except cinema, which has shown negative growth (-6.2 per cent), a decline from 8,89 lakh to 8,33 lakh from 2005 to 2008. Similarly, for FM radio, Internet and TV (C&S) the figures from 2005 to 2008 stand at 7,16 lakh to 11,20 lakh; 1,11 lakh to 1,73 lakh and 21,02 lakh to 28,73 lakh, respectively.
According to the presentation, the all India population has increased by 8.3 per cent over the past three years. There is an increase in the number of literates over the same period at 12.5 per cent, which is higher than the population growth. From 2005 to 2008 population growth increased from 77,80 lakh to 84,29 lakh, while literacy grew from 50,87 lakh to 57,23 lakh in the same period.
