While there has been an upswing in readership this quarter, especially in dailies, Marathi publications continue to see a mixed bag in IRS Q3 2010, with an equal number of declines as there are growths. Magazines, however, see more declines.
Among the top 10 Marathi dailies, Lokmat leads with a readership of 7,809,000, an increase of 5.50 per cent from the Q3 AIR of 7,402,000. Daily Sakal at No. 2 has also seen a growth of 10.40 per cent in its AIR from 4,202,000 in Q2 to 4,639,000 in this quarter. Pudhari has received an AIR of 2,661,000, up 2.50 per cent from 2,596,000 in Q2.
Punya Nagari and Maharashtra Times are placed at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Both have seen decline in AIR.
While Puniya Nagari’s readership dropped 5.59 per cent, from 2,184,000 in Q2 to 2,064,000 in this quarter, Maharashtra Times has seen a 2.26 per cent decline in AIR from 1,150,000 in Q2 to 1,124,000 in Q3.
Among the next five dailies, Loksatta is the only one to have seen growth. The paper is up marginally by 0.64 per cent at 1,099,000 in Q3, as against 1,092,000 in the previous quarter.
Tarun Bharat (Belgaum, Maharashtra & Goa) has seen a steep drop in AIR of 16.29 per cent, its readership going down from 1,160,000 in Q2 to 971,000 in the current quarter. Deshonatti, Navakal and Mumbai Choufer have also seen decline of 8.55 per cent, 7.01 per cent and 6.85 per cent, respectively.
Among the Marathi periodicals, the weekly Saptahik Sakal is at the top with a growth of 1.35 per cent in its readership, from 222,000 in Q2 to 225,000 in this quarter. The other magazine to have witnessed growth is the Marathi edition of weekly Chitralekha, which has registered a mammoth 42.86 per cent increase in AIR from 49,000 in the previous quarter to 70,000 in Q3.
On the hand, Grihashobhika, Lokrajya and Lokprabha have all seen decline in AIR of 9.88 per cent, 7.75 per cent and 10.91 per cent, respectively.
