IRS Q4 2010: Top 10 Dailies In Bihar

Prabhat Khabar overtakes Aj to become third largest read daily of the state.

Rajat Arora | Delhi | March 17, 2011

Hindi daily 'Hindustan' remains the distant leader in Bihar and still growing at a consistent rate. By adding 1,10,000 readers in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010, the newspaper has strengthened its position further at No.1. Its current AIR stands at 46.25 lakh as compared to 45.15 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. The newspaper had added 2.21 lakh readers in Q3 while it had lost 1.81 lakh readers in Q2. During the year, the newspaper has grown by 3.4% and added total 1.5 lakh readers as compared to IRS Q1 2010.

The second largest read daily of the state 'Dainik Jagran' has registered a marginal decline of 1.8% readers this quarter. The largest reader newspaper of the world has an AIR of 24.82 lakh in IRS Q4 2010 as compared to 25.27 lakh in the previous survey. Dainik Jagran had added 15,000 readers in Q3 and lost 14,000 readers in Q2. Thus the newspaper has seen a marginal decline of 1.7% over the year.

Growing swiftly in Bihar on quarter on quarter basis, 'Prabhat Khabar' has surprised all by taking No.3 spot in this quarter. The average issue readership of the Hindi daily has gone up by 27.6%. Its AIR stands at 2.73 lakh in IRS Q4 2010 as compared to 2.14 lakh in the previous quarter. Prabhat Khabar had lost 17,000 readers in Q3 while it had added 58,000 readers in Q2. In total, the daily has grown by 57.8% over the year 2010.

Pushed down at No.4, Hindi daily 'Aj' has registered a marginal decline by 1.9%. Its current AIR stands at 2.59 lakh as compared to 2.64 lakh in previous quarter. The paper had added 26,000 readers in Q3 but lost 31,000 readers in Q2. Thus, its overall readership has gone down by 3.7% over the year.

At No.5 in Bihar is English daily 'The Times of India' which has recorded an AIR of 1.54 lakh in IRS Q4 2010 as compared to 1.35 lakh in last survey. The English daily has added total 8,000 readers during 2010.

'Rashtriya Sahara', the No.6 daily of the state has an AIR of 1.07 lakh in this quarter which is same as IRS Q1 2010.

The 7^th largest read daily of the state 'Hindustan Times' has again registered growth in this quarter and over the year the English daily has grown by 30%. Its current AIR stands at 1.04 lakh as compared to 91,000 in Q3, 76,000 in Q2 and 80,000 in IRS Q1 2010.

'I Next' is certainly losing its ground in the state with the fact that the English daily from Dainik Jagran group has seen a decline of 38% over the year. Its current AIR stands at 62,000 as compared to 84,000 in Q3, 1.09 lakh in Q2 and 1.01 in Q1.

'The Hindu' and 'The Economic Times' are on 9^th and 10^th spot with AIR of 19,000 and 16,000 respectively. The Hindu has grown by 111% and ET has grown by 100% during the year 2010.

Rajat.Arora@BestMediaInfo.com

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