How advertisers are making up for the absence of IRS

Nearly seven years after the last Indian Readership Survey (IRS), advertisers have largely stopped waiting for its return. But its prolonged absence raises an important question: How are brands, which collectively invest nearly ₹21,000 crore annually in print advertising, deciding where—and how much—to spend for the best return on investment?

Conversations with leading FMCG and automobile marketers, agency leaders and advertising executives suggest the industry has quietly rewritten its print planning playbook. Instead of relying on a single readership currency, advertisers now combine ABC circulation data with proprietary market intelligence, distribution strength, first-party consumer insights and campaign outcome metrics—reflecting a broader shift from readership-led planning to outcome-led media measurement.

Rajiv Dubey, Vice President, Head of Media and Head of Brand Activations at Dabur India, says the absence of the IRS has forced advertisers to adopt a more layered approach to media planning.

"In the absence of the IRS, advertisers had to rely on a combination of ABC circulation data, their own market intelligence, distribution strength and consumer insights. ABC is useful, but it is only one of several inputs."

The evolution is equally visible on the agency side. Shradha Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Grapes, says brands today no longer view print merely as an awareness medium.

"Brands today assess every medium through a full-funnel lens, using print for both brand-building innovations and driving footfalls during high-intent shopping periods."

She adds that while advertisers continue to rely on ABC data to compare circulation and geographic reach across publications, circulation metrics alone are insufficient to evaluate campaign effectiveness or business outcomes.

Dubey believes the industry's planning philosophy itself has evolved alongside this shift. "Readership alone is no longer enough for media planning. Today, planning is driven by audience attention, contextual relevance and clear business outcomes. The focus has shifted from platforms to audiences. We need to measure not just how many people saw an advertisement, but also whether it improved awareness, consideration, purchase or brand preference across the full consumer journey."

His assessment is echoed by a senior FMCG marketer, who requested anonymity. "We haven't stopped investing in print, but we've stopped depending on a single dataset. Today, we triangulate ABC circulation figures with internal sales trends, retailer feedback, regional market intelligence and brand tracking studies. The IRS would certainly provide a common benchmark, but planning has become much more evidence-led than it was a few years ago."

The shift is equally evident in the automobile sector, where regional print continues to play an important role during launches and festive campaigns.

A senior marketing executive at a leading automobile company, also speaking on condition of anonymity, says: "For us, the question is no longer which publication has the highest readership. We evaluate whether campaigns generate dealership enquiries, test drives and bookings in specific markets. Print continues to be relevant, but it is measured alongside digital and on-ground activations using common business KPIs."

Also Read: Print AdEx rose to Rs 20,866 crore in 2025: PMAR 2026 

IRS remains elusive seven years on as industry battles methodology and funding hurdles

Can ABC Fill the Void Left by IRS?

The industry's evolving approach comes even as the IRS remains in limbo.

Jointly published by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and the Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI), the IRS has remained suspended since 2019—initially due to the pandemic and later because of disagreements over methodology, funding and execution. The annual survey covered more than 2.56 lakh respondents and provided readership data, media consumption patterns, demographics, and product ownership and usage across more than 100 categories.

Although a pilot IRS was announced last year, the exercise is yet to commence, extending the industry's longest-ever measurement vacuum.

In the meantime, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is attempting to bridge part of the gap. While advertisers continue to rely on ABC's independently audited circulation data to validate print reach, the bureau is also positioning itself as a broader industry currency.

Earlier this year, ABC Chairman Karunesh Bajaj told exchange4media that the organisation is working towards "building a unified cross-platform currency for print media that would enable advertisers and agencies to make more informed investment decisions."

However, advertisers say ABC serves a different purpose from the IRS. While it provides independently audited circulation figures, it does not capture readership behaviour, audience demographics or consumer profiling—the insights that made the IRS the industry's common planning currency.

Why Industry Still Wants IRS?

Despite adapting to new planning models, industry stakeholders believe the need for an independent readership benchmark has not diminished.

A senior automobile industry executive, requesting anonymity, says, "Every advertiser today has built its own planning framework, but an industry cannot function indefinitely without a common currency. Agencies still need a neutral benchmark, and advertisers still need confidence that everyone is speaking the same measurement language."

Experts point out that print media advertising grew 3% to ₹20,866 crore in 2025 from ₹20,272 crore in 2024. However, print's share of total AdEx declined from 19% to 18%, underscoring its gradual erosion in an advertising market increasingly tilted towards digital.

But Should IRS Return in Its Old Form?

Bringing back the IRS in its old form makes little sense because the media has changed dramatically since 2019, experts say.

"Beyond circulation, advertisers need to understand whether adding print to a campaign actually improved business outcomes in a particular market or during a specific campaign period. The next step is enabling actionability through tools such as QR codes or unique coupon codes that can help brands track whether a print campaign drove online engagement, store visits or sales,” Shradha Agarwal noted. 

Veteran adman Dr Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director of Rediffusion, goes a step further. In his view, if the IRS returns in its earlier avatar, it risks becoming irrelevant to today's media ecosystem. "If IRS returns in its old form—memory-based, SEC-driven, annual PDF on 'Average Issue Readership'—it will be irrelevant," he says.

According to Dr Goyal, the advertising ecosystem has changed far more rapidly than the industry's measurement systems. He argues that the traditional IRS model no longer reflects how marketers buy media today. "In 2026, marketers don't buy 'readership'; they buy verifiable attention that they can activate and attribute across screens in real time," he notes.

He explains, “The old IRS framework relies on outdated socio-economic classifications at a time when consumer behaviour can be understood through digital payment and transaction data. It also depends on respondents recalling what they read, making it difficult to capture increasingly fragmented and incidental news consumption across platforms such as Google Discover and WhatsApp.”

More importantly, he says, the data cannot be integrated with modern advertising ecosystems such as DV360, Meta or customer data platforms for campaign activation. “The survey's long reporting cycle, often stretching to 18 months, is also at odds with an industry where AI-powered media optimisation now happens in a matter of hours,” Dr Goyal points out. 

Clearly, in a market increasingly driven by accountability and measurement, the MRUC’s challenge is no longer proving print's relevance—it is proving it through a currency everyone trusts.