The third quarter of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) indicates absolutely no change in the order of the top publications. Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar take the lead once again, followed by Hindustan, Malayala Manorama and Amar Ujala. The one evident change is that just one publication has witnessed a decline among the top 10 dailies. Just four among the top 20 publications have witnessed decline.
Dainik Jagran at No. 1 position has received an Average Issue Readership (AIR) of 15,950,000, a marginal 0.16 per cent change over its Q2 figures of 15,925,000. Dainik Bhaskar, with an AIR of 13,488,000, has witnessed a 1.39 per cent change from 13,303,000 in Q2.
At third place is Hindi publication Hindustan with a readership of 10,839,000, an increase of 6.86 per cent. In Q2 2010, the publication had seen a readership of 10,143,000. Malayala Manorama is at No. 4 with an AIR of 9,927,000. In the last round, the publication had witnessed a readership of 9,841,000, thus it has registered a growth of 0.87 per cent. Amar Ujala has witnessed a readership of 8,583,000, which is a 1.97 per cent growth in AIR, as compared to the previous quarter’s figure of 8,417,000.
Marathi daily Lokmat has seen a 5.50 per cent increase in its readership, from 7,402,000 in Q2 to 7,809,000 in the current quarter. The Times of India has moved up to seventh position with a 2.34 per cent growth in its readership, which stands at 7,254,000.
Daily Thanthi, which had witnessed a marginal 0.66 per cent increase in its readership in Q2, has slipped to the eighth position and has seen a decline of 2.12 per cent in its AIR. It is the only publication among the top 10 to have witnessed a decline in its AIR, which stands at 7,245,000 in Q3.
Rajasthan Patrika has seen a 4.59 per cent growth, its readership moving from 6,900,000 in Q2 to 7,217,000 in the current quarter. Mathrubhumi, too, has witnessed an increase of 1.71 per cent, its readership increasing from 6,566,000 in the previous quarter to 6,678,000 in Q3.
Bengali daily Anand Bazar Patrika is at No. 11 and is among the few that has de-grown. The daily has witnessed a decline of 4.01 per cent in its AIR, which stands at 6,277,000 in Q3.
Both Eenadu and Gujarat Samachar have grown marginally by 0.11 per cent and 0.59 per cent, respectively. Eenadu clocked an AIR of 6,161,000, while Gujarat Samachar received an AIR of 5,249,000.
Tamil daily Dinakaran, which is at No. 14, has seen a 3.57 per cent drop in its AIR to 4,861,000. Telugu daily Sakshi, on the other hand, has grown by 3.84 per cent with an AIR of 4,816,000.
Daily Sakal, Divya Bhaskar and Hindustan Times have all witnessed growth. Daily Sakal has witnessed a 10.40 per cent growth, while Divya Bhaskar and Hindustan Times have grown by 6.35 per cent and 1.85 per cent, respectively. Vijay Karnataka at No. 20 has grown by 4.80 per cent and has clocked a readership of 3,430,000.
Punjab Kesari is at No. 19 and has seen a dip of 1.74 per cent in its AIR from 3,561,000 in Q2 to 3,499,000 in Q3.
Overall, the dailies chart looks very positive with very few publications marked in red.
[The mentioned readership figures are Average Issue Readership (AIR) figures, Total Readership (TR) may vary. After various discussions with advertisers and media buyers, as a policy exchange4media uses only AIR numbers.]
