Most dailies have seen a decline in readership in the Punjab market. Of the top 15 dailies, nine have seen a drop in Average Issue Readership (AIR) as per the IRS Q3 2010 results. Punjabi daily Ajit has retained its leadership position with a marginal growth. Punjab Kesari is the most read Hindi daily in the state, while The Tribune is the most read English daily.
Punjabi Dailies
Ajit has recorded an AIR of 1,126,000, a marginal growth of 0.09 per cent over the Q2 figure of 1,125,000. Jag Bani is the second most read Punjabi daily with an AIR of 991,000. In the overall list of dailies, Jag Bani is at No. 3. The paper has seen a 2.65 per cent decline in its readership as compared to 1,018,000 Q2. Punjabi Tribune, with an AIR of 253,000, has registered negative growth of 10.92 per cent. The paper is ranked seventh in the overall list of dailies in Punjab.
Hindi Dailies
Punjab Kesari, the No. 2 daily in the Punjab market, is also the most read Hindi daily in the market. The paper has recorded an AIR of 1,078,000 in Q3, a decline of 2 per cent over its Q2 figure of 1,100,000.
Pushing Dainik Jagran down one rank, Dainik Bhaskar has climbed to No. 4 in the overall dailies’ list. Dainik Bhaskar has recorded an AIR of 810,000, a growth of 4.79 per cent over the Q2 figure of 773,000. Meanwhile, Dainik Jagran has seen a 9.99 per cent decline in its AIR – from 891,000 in Q2 to 802,000 in the current quarter.
Amar Ujala, with an AIR of 124,000 has recorded a negative growth of 20.51 per cent as compared to 156,000 in Q2. Dainik Tribune has also seen a 20 per cent drop in its AIR – from 70,000 in Q2 to 56,000 in this quarter.
English Dailies
Among English newspapers, The Tribune remains the most read. The paper has seen an AIR of 306,000 in Q3 and is ranked sixth in the overall dailies’ list. However, The Tribune has seen a 6.71 per cent decline in its readership.
Hindustan Times, on the other hand, has recorded a positive growth in AIR. The daily has seen an AIR of 141,000, up 2.92 per cent from its Q2 figure of 137,000. The Times of India has seen a 10.64 per cent drop in AIR – from 47,000 in Q2 to 42,000 in Q3. The Indian Express has seen a 20 per cent growth in its AIR at 18,000.
[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.]
