IRS Q1 2011: Top 10 Hindi Dailies

While the order remains same, Hindustan, Amar Ujala, Nai Dunia and Prabhat Khabar register considerable growth.

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 17, 2011

The first quarter results of IRS 2011 released today indicate no change in the order as per their Average Issue Readership data. Among top 10 Hindi dailies in the country, Hindustan, Amar Ujala, Nai Dunia and Prabhat Khabar have shown considerable growth while Dainik Bhaskar too has registered a marginal growth this quarter.

'Dainik Jagran' continues to be the largest read Hindi daily of country. After registering growth in its Average Issue Readership for consecutive 2 quarters, the daily has seen a decline of less than 1% in this quarter. Its current AIR in IRS Q1 2011 stands at 1,59,10,000 as compared to 1,60,66,000 in last quarter of IRS Q4 2010. Jagran had added 1,16,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010 and 25,000 readers in IRS Q3 2010. The daily had lost 4 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2010.

At second spot, 'Dainik Bhaskar' has recorded a marginal increase in its AIR this quarter. The daily has added 24,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011 and its AIR now stands at 1,40,16,000 as compared to 1,39,92,000 in IRS Q4 2010. Bhaskar had added 5,04,000 readers to its AIR in Q4 2010. Dainik Bhasker Group's flagship publication had maintained the status quo in Q3 while it added 4.5 lakh reader in Q2 of IRS 2010.

Hindi daily 'Hindustan' is consolidating its position as No.3 newspaper of the country on quarter on quarter basis, though the current growth rate has slowed down. Hindustan has added 3.58 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011 while it had added 6.13 lakh readers in the last quarter of IRS 2011. The Hindi daily from Hindustan Media Ventures had added 6.96 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2010, 2 lakh in Q2 2010 and 5.78 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2010. Thus Hindustan as added 18.96 lakh readers in its AIR over the year since. Hindustan's current AIR stands at 1,18,10,000 as compared to 1,14,52,000 in the previous quarter.

The growth spree continues for the fourth largest Hindi daily of the country 'Amar Ujala' also. The daily has added 1.07 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011 while it had added 57,000 readers in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010. The AIR of Amar Ujala stands at 87,47,000 in IRS Q1 2011 as compared to 86,40,000 in IRS Q4 2010.

Hindi daily 'Rajasthan Patrika' has been losing its readers in the second consecutive quarter according to the AIR data released for IRS Q1 2011. The daily had lost 51,000 readers in the Q4 of IRS 2010. While it had added 3.17 lakh readers in the third quarter of 2010 and 2.15 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2010. Its current AIR stands at 70,33,000 as compared to 71,66,000 in IRS Q4, 2010. The newspaper

After adding some readers in last quarter of IRS 2010, India's 6^th largest read Hindi daily 'Punjab Kesri' has shown a decline in its readership according to the IRS Q1 2011 results. By losing 80,000 readers, its current AIR now stands at 34,79,000 as compared to 35,59,000 in IRS Q4 2010. The daily had added 60,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010 but lost 62,000 readers in IRS Q3 2010. Punjab Kesri had added 35,000 readers in IRS Q2 2010 and 1 lakh readers in the first quarter.

Like last quarter, the No.7 Hindi daily 'Navbharat Times' has again registered a marginal growth in its AIR in IRS Q1 2011. By adding 10,000 readers in this quarter, its AIR now stands at 25,89,000 as compared to 25,79,000 in IRS Q4 2010. NBT had added 47,000 readers in Q4 2010.

According to the average issue readership in first quarter of IRS 2011, Jharkhand's leading Hindi daily 'Prabhat Khabar' has strengthened its position as 8^th largest read daily in the country. After adding 2,14,000 readers in last quarter, Prabhat Khabar has again added 1,33,000 readers in Q1 2011 to take its AIR to 18,12,000 as compared to 16,79,000 in the previous quarter. The daily had acquired the 8^th spot in last quarter.

'Nai Dunia' too is growing its readership on quarter on quarter basis. After adding 1,17,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010, the daily has added 91,000 readers in this quarter. Nai Dunia has registered AIR of 17.62 lakh in IRS Q1 2011 as compared to 16.71 lakh in previous quarter.

At No.10 is “Hari Bhoomi” with an AIR of 14,18,000 in IRS Q1 2011 as compared to 15,10,000 in the previous quarter.

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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 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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