IRS Q2 2011: Top 10 dailies in Assam

The declining trend in readership continues in the eastern state; Asomiya Khabar is the only daily to register growth over the last one year

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 4, 2011

The eastern state of Assam has only one newspaper, Asomiya Pratidin, as a major player with over 10 lakh readership, even though there are several newspapers within touching distance of the 10-lakh mark. Like in the last quarter, the declining trend is continuing in the state where eight out of the top 10 dailies have registered heavy loss in readership.

No.1 daily and a distant leader, Asomiya Pratidin, has again registered a decline of 2.2 per cent in the second quarter of IRS 2011. The paper has recorded an AIR of 11.2 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 11.52 lakh in the previous quarter and 11.77 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. The daily has lost 4.8 per cent readers over the past one year.

The second most read daily, Asomiya Khabar, clocked an AIR of 3.24 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 against 3.47 lakh in the previous quarter and 3.95 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. Losing its readership base in the state on quarter on quarter basis, the overall loss for the daily in the last one year has gone up to 18 per cent.

At No. 3 position is Assam Tribune, the only newspaper that registered growth in the last one year. The daily has grown by 10 per cent from the second quarter of last year. It has recorded an AIR of 2.65 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 against 2.52 lakh in the previous quarter and 2.41 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

Another daily to add some readers this quarter is Dainik Agradoot which holds the 4^th spot in the state with an AIR of 2.16 lakh compared with 2.1 lakh in the previous quarter. However, the daily has lost a whopping 25 per cent readers over the last one year. It had an AIR of 2.89 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

Dainik Janmabhumi at No. 5 has recorded an AIR of 1.69 lakh readers compared with 1.99 lakh in the previous survey and 1.81 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

Amar Asom has retained its 6^th spot with an AIR of 1.53 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 against 1.92 lakh in the previous quarter and 2.18 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. The paper has lost a huge 30 per cent of its readership over the past one year.

Dainik Jugasankha has also lost 12.3 per cent of readers in the current survey, recording an AIR of 1.5 lakh compared with 1.71 lakh in the previous quarter.

Dainik Assam is at No.8 position with an AIR of 75,000. The paper has lost 14,000 readers in the current quarter. In Q2 of IRS 2010, the daily had an AIR of 1.33 lakh.

At 9^th and 10^th spot are Ajir Asom and The Telegraph with AIR of 69,000 and 49,000, respectively.

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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 a matter of daily habit. Conventionally, media planners calculate and compare cost-benefits of dailies based on the AIR figure. Hence, it is perhaps most relevant to study readership trends in terms of AIR.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com