IRS Q4 2010: Top 10 Dailies in Maharashtra

8 out of the top 10 dailies in Maharashtra lose readers although the overall readership grows by 1.9% during the quarter.

Rajat Arora | Delhi | March 15, 2011

The top dailies in Maharashtra have together seen a decline in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010 although the overall market has recorded 1.9% growth in Average Issue Readership numbers.

State's No.1 daily 'Lokmat' continues to lead the Marathi despite losing 2.49 lakh readers in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010. The Marathi daily has recorded an AIR of 75.53 Lakh in IRS Q4 2010 as compared to 78.02 lakh in last survey. The newspaper had added 4.06 lakh readers in Q3 and 35,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010. Lokmat has registered an overall growth of 1.92 lakh readers over the year.

'Daily Sakal' has registered a marginal growth of 0.5% and by adding 22,000 readers in the current survey; it has recorded an AIR of 45.72 lakh as compared to 45.50 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2010. The paper had seen increase of 10.8% in its AIR in Q3 and added 4.43 lakh new readers. In Q2 the Marathi daily had AIR of 41.07 lakh and added 1.15 lakh readers. Daily Sakal has added 5.80 lakh readers in this year as compared to the AIR of 39.92 lakh in Q1 2010.

At No 3 is 'Pudhari' which has seen a marginal decline by 1.2% in IRS Q4 2010. After losing 32,000 readers in the current survey, its AIR now stands at 25.64 lakh as compared to 25.96 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. The paper had added 82,000 readers in Q3 but lost 16,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010. Overall, Pudhari has added 34,000 readers over the year.

Nation's largest read English daily, 'The Times of India' has surged ahead at No.4 position in Maharashtra, although the newspaper has seen a marginal loss in its readership in IRS Q4 2010. Its current AIR now stands at 20.04 lakh as compared to 20.13 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. The English daily had added 5% more readers in previous quarter and added 95,000 new readers. It had added 93,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010. Thus the newspaper has grown by 9.8% over the first quarter findings and added 1.79,000 readers in this year.

Pushed down at 5^th spot by TOI, 'Punya Nagari' is continuously losing its ground in Maharashtra and the newspaper has lost 1.13 lakh readers yet again in this survey. Its current AIR stands at 19.46 lakh as compared to 20.59 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. The daily had lost 1.23 lakh readers in Q3 and 38,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010. Overall, Punya Nagari has declined by 12.3% over the year 2010 by losing 2.74 lakh readers.

'Maharashtra Times', the Marathi daily is at No.6 position and has lost 36,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010. Its AIR now stands at 10.88 lakh as compared to 11.24 lakh in Q3 of IRS 2010. In Q3 the Marathi daily had lost 26,000 readers while it had added 29,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010. Thus the newspaper has lost 33,000 readers in total over the year.

At No.7 is another Marathi daily 'Loksatta' with AIR of 10.58 lakh in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010. The paper has lost 37,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010 while it had added 13,000 new readers in Q3 and 18,000 readers in IRS Q1 2010. Thus, Loksatta has almost maintained the status quo in its readership in this year.

Despite losing 94,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010, 'Deshonatti' remains at No.8. The newspaper has current AIR of 8.26 lakh as compared to 9.20 lakh in Q3 of IRS 2010. Deshonatti had lost 86,000 readers in Q3 2010 while it had added 28,000 readers in Q2 2010. The newspaper has finally recorded decline of 1,52,000 readers over the year.

'Gujarat Samachar' is at No.9 in Maharasthra market and growing steadily on quarter on quarter basis. The newspaper has added 44,000 readers in this quarter to take its AIR at 8.11 lakh as compared to 7.77 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2010. The paper had added 66,000 new readers in Q3 and 54,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010 also. This year, the daily has grown by 24% and added 1.57 lakh readers during this year

'Mumbai Mirror', the tabloid size English daily is continuously losing its ground in the state and seen a considerable decline over the past 3 quarters. By losing 45,000 readers, the newspaper has recorded an AIR of 7.11 lakh as compared to 7.56 lakh in IRS Q3 2010. The paper had lost 30,000 readers in Q3 and 45,000 in IRS Q2 2010.  During the year, the tabloid has slipped down two position and lost 1.20 lakh readers as compared to Q1.

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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.

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