IRS 2010 Q1: Complete Analysis On All India Top 10 Magazines

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 6, 2010

The overall performance for magazines in India for the first quarter of IRS 2010 has proved to be nightmare for most of them. The average issue readership (AIR) data between January to March 2010 the shows a sharp fall in the overall readership collectively.

According to the latest Indian Readership Survey (IRS) data, Malayalam fortnightly magazine 'Vanitha' has retained its No. 1 spot and gained 1,35,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2010. It has recorded 5% of growth in AIR as compared to IRS R2 2009. Its AIR stands at 30.35 lakh in current survey which was 29 lakh in last survey.

At 2nd position, Hindi fortnightly 'Saras Salil' has also gone up by 2% adding 42,000 readers as compared to last survey. It has 22.09 lakh readers as per the current survey findings.

The English weekly ' India Today' has managed to retain its 3rd spot in the country but lost 90,000 readers and registered AIR of 17.88 lakh as compared to 18.78 lakh in last survey.

The educational Hindi monthly magazine 'Pratiyogita Darpan' has gained 66,000 readers in January to March 2010. Registering 4% growth, it has strengthened its position at No. 4 with AIR of 17.42 lakh. It had recorded 16.76 lakh readers in the last survey.

Malayalam weekly 'Malayala Manorama' has lost the maximum readers among top 10 magazines of the country in the first quarter of IRS 2010. Its AIR has gone down by 11% losing 1,76,000 readers as compared to IRS R2 2009. Still holding 5th spot Malayala Monarama's current AIR stands at 14.33 lakh which was 16.09 lakh in last survey.

At No. 6 is another Malayalam weekly 'Balarama' which has seen a decline of 8% in its AIR from last survey. Its current AIR is 13.88 lakh as compared to 15.07 lakh readers in IRS R2 2009.

Hindi weekly 'India Today' has jumped one position above to replace Tamil Weekly Kumudam from 7th spot which has lost 10% of its readers in 3 months. India Today Hindi has also taken a dip by losing 87,000 readers in the current survey. Its AIR stands at 13.11 lakh.

Tamil weekly 'Kumudam has lost the 7th spot. Now at No.8 position, it has AIR of 12.98 lakh in comparison to 14.43 lakh in IRS R2 2009.

Another English magazine in all India top 10 list is 'Readers Digest' which has lost 47,000 readers in this survey. With AIR of 12.7 lakh the Monthly Magazine stands at No. 9.

Hindi monthly ' Meri Saheli' has made an entry to the top 10 list registering a growth of 3%. It has added 36,000 readers to take its AIR up to 12.67 lakh.

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 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.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com