IRS Q4 2010: Top 10 Dailies In Karnataka

9 out of the top 10 dailies in Karnataka put together a good show; Kannada Prabha takes No.3 position.

Rajat Arora | Delhi | March 16, 2011

The fourth and last quarter of IRS 2010 has been phenomenal for the dailies in Karnataka where 9 out of the top 10 publications have maintained robust growth. While Kannada Prabha has gone up by one position, Tarun Bharat has jumped up to the No.8 position in the state.

The No.1 Kannada daily 'Vijay Karnataka' has further strengthened its leadership by adding 1.5% readers in IRS Q4 2010. It has recorded and AIR of 34.75 lakh as compared to 34.25 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had added 1.87 lakh readers in Q3 while it had lost 54,000 readers in Q2. Overall, Vijay Karnataka has grown by 4.6% during 2010.

The second largest read daily in the state 'Prajavani' has maintained its high growth rate by adding 2.7 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2010. Its AIR now stands at 31.80 lakh as compared to 29.10 lakh in the previous quarter. Prajavani had added 3.45 lakh readers in Q3 and 3.24 lakh readers in Q2. Thus the daily has grown by 41.9% and added 9.39 lakh readers over the year.

There has been a change for the 3^rd spot in this quarter where 'Kannada Prabha' has replace Samyukta Karnataka. The average issue readership (AIR) of Kannada Prabha has gone up by 10.9% in IRS Q4 2010. It has recorded an AIR of 12.37 lakh as compared to 11.15 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had added 2.53 lakh readers in Q3 and 1.13 lakh readers in Q2. The overall readership of Kannada Prabha has grown by 65.2% over the year.

Although 'Samyukta Karnataka' has slipped down to No.4, it has shown growth of 5.4% in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010. Its current AIR stands at 11.92 lakh as compared to 11.31 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. 'Samyukta Karnataka' had added 1.47 lakh readers in Q3 and 1.72 lakh readers in Q2. The newspaper has grown by 46.8% over the year.

'Udayavani' is at 5^th spot with 9.31 lakh readers in the state. It has added 41,000 readers in Q4 while it added 96,000 readers in Q3 but lost 26,000 readers in Q2. Thus, the newspaper has grown by 13.5% and added 1.11 lakh readers over the year.

By adding 33,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010, 'The Times of India' has recorded an AIR of 4.99 lakh as compared to 4.66 lakh in the previous quarter. The No.6 daily in Karnataka had added 21,000 readers in Q3 while it had lost 2,000 readers in Q2. The largest read English daily of the country has grown by 11.6% in Karnataka over the year.

At No.7, 'Deccan Herald' has strengthened its position by gaining 7.3% readers in the current survey findings. It has recorded an AIR of 3.82 lakh as compared to 3.56 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. The daily had added 42,000 readers in Q3 and 7,000 readers in Q2. The daily has registered an overall growth of 24.4% during 2010.

'Tarun Bharat' which was not there in top 10 in the previous quarter, has surprised all by sitting at No.8 position in IRS Q4 2010. By registering a growth of 110.5%, the daily has recorded an AIR of 2 lakh as compared to 85,000 in Q3.

The only newspaper to register decline in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010 among the top 10 dailies in the state is 'Sanjavani'. The new No.9 daily has an AIR of 1.71 lakh as compared to 2.15 lakh in previous quarter. The paper had added 4,000 new readers in Q3 while it had added 26,000 readers in Q2.

The new entrant in the top 10 league is 'Karavali Ale' with an AIR of 1.48 lakh in IRS Q4 2010.

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About methodology

Average Issue Readership (AIR) of a publication is defined as the number of readers of that publication who have claimed to have last read it within its periodicity – i.e. last read a daily yesterday, a weekly within the last week, a monthly within the last month, etc.

This measure is considered to be a more relevant measure of 'real' or 'regular' readership, especially for newspapers, most of which have been read / 'consumed' as matter of daily habit. Conventionally, media planners even calculate & compare cost-benefits of dailies based on the AIR figure. And hence it is perhaps most relevant to study readership trends as well in terms of AIR.

Rajat.Arora@BestMediaInfo.com

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