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

Nearly seven years after the last Indian Readership Survey (IRS), India's print industry continues to operate without a common readership currency, with the long-awaited revival of the survey once again running into delays.

Announced in September 2025 as the first step towards bringing back IRS after the pandemic-induced hiatus, the pilot study is yet to move beyond the planning stage. While the Media Research Users Council of India (MRUC) has been refining the survey framework and questionnaire, fieldwork has not begun, highlighting the industry's continuing struggle to build consensus around what should remain one of its most important planning currencies.

According to multiple industry sources, preparatory work has accelerated over the past few months, with the proposed pilot expected to cover three markets representing urban and semi-urban India. However, publishers continue to raise concerns over the survey design, questionnaire and methodology—issues that insiders say have slowed progress.

A senior executive at a leading English-language newspaper told e4m, "The debate is still centred on the questionnaire and methodology. The larger question is how MRUC can strengthen audience measurement so that it goes beyond reach to also capture engagement and trust. Until there is wider industry consensus on what should be measured and how, progress will remain slow."

Notably, MRUC is believed to have already revised the questionnaire several times to satisfy publishers. However, top publishers are still not satisfied with the nuances of questions. “It has to be relevant, updated and capable of capturing the real picture of affluent, urban and Tier 1, 2 readership," a publisher quips. 

Another publisher said the proposed questionnaire remains excessively long, making it difficult to execute efficiently in today's research environment where respondents are increasingly unwilling to spend 30-40 minutes on a single interview. Executives also continue to flag operational hurdles, including restricted access to gated communities and premium residential complexes, which they believe could affect sample quality in urban markets.

MRUC remains tight-lipped about the pilot survey's status. Chairman Vikram Sakhuja declined to commit to a timeline. With no clarity on the pilot, the rollout of a full-fledged IRS also remains uncertain.

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A Currency That Has Become Harder to Revive

What initially appeared to be a temporary disruption caused by the pandemic has increasingly become a structural challenge.

The last IRS was released in 2019. Since then, disagreements over funding, methodology, research partners and survey scope have repeatedly delayed its return. Industry executives now believe the debate extends beyond execution to a more fundamental question: what should a readership currency measure in a media ecosystem that has changed dramatically over the past six years?

The IRS, jointly published by the MRUC and the Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI), is the world’s largest continuous study with an annual sample size exceeding 2.56 lakh respondents. 

The survey provides a snapshot of India’s Print and other media consumption, demographics, product ownership and usage. The IRS also covers over 100 product categories in the households surveyed.  

The exercise is estimated to cost ₹40-50 crore, funded by contributions from publishers. However, amid global economic uncertainty, declining print circulation and shifting news consumption habits, several publishers remain unconvinced about the survey's relevance and return on investment. 

“Many are reluctant to commit funds to an exercise whose findings could potentially weaken their market position and, in turn, affect advertising revenues that have only recently recovered to pre-pandemic levels,” said a regional publisher.

The challenge has become more acute because media planning itself has evolved. Digital platforms now provide near real-time campaign measurement, retail media offers closed-loop attribution, while advertisers increasingly expect continuous optimisation rather than periodic reporting. Against that backdrop, rebuilding consensus around a large-scale readership survey has become significantly more complex.

Yet for the print industry, the absence of IRS continues to leave a significant measurement gap. With the sector still accounting for an estimated ₹20,000 crore in advertising revenue, publishers argue that an independent industry currency remains critical for media planning, advertiser confidence and benchmarking.

Meanwhile, advertisers increasingly rely on circulation data, proprietary publisher research and individual audience studies. While larger media houses have invested in first-party data and internal analytics, smaller and regional publishers risk losing visibility without a universally accepted readership benchmark.

The prolonged pause has also reopened a broader industry debate on whether the next IRS should simply revive the old model or evolve into a cross-platform measurement framework that captures how audiences consume news across print, digital and emerging platforms.

For now, however, even that debate remains secondary. The immediate challenge is getting the pilot off the ground.