IRS Q2 2011: Top 10 English Dailies

Hindustan Times, Deccan Chronicle and TOI register growth; The Hindu and Mumbai Mirror on slight decline

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | September 30, 2011

The 2011 2^nd quarter results of Indian Readership Survey is out and it has brought good news for seven of the top 10 English dailies. Hindustan Times and Deccan Chronicle have witnessed considerable percentage growth. The Times of India, The New Indian Express, DNA, The Telegraph and The Economic Times have registered growth according to the average issue readership (AIR) data. The Hindu and Mumbai Mirror have registered decline.

The Times of India continues to be the largest read English daily of the country with a marginal growth in IRS Q2 2011 over Q1 of IRS 2011. The AIR data released for Q2 2011 show that TOI has added just 29,000 readers to take its AIR to 74.71 lakh compared with 74.42 lakh in Q1 2011. The No.1 English daily had added 18,000 readers in the first quarter.

The second largest read English daily, Hindustan Times, has added 45,000 readers in Q2 2011. The paper had added 1 lakh readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011 and 75,000 readers in the last quarter of IRS 2010. HT's AIR now stands at 37.37 lakh compared with 36.92 lakh in Q1 2011. HT had added 64,000 readers in the third quarter of IRS 2010 also.

The country's No.3 English daily, The Hindu, has lost a few readers for the second quarter in a row. The daily lost 18,000 readers in Q2 2011 while it had lost 20,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011. The Hindu has recorded an AIR of 20.77 lakh compared with 20.95 lakh in the previous quarter.

The Telegraph continues at No. 4 position with a marginal growth over the last quarter. Its AIR now stands at 12.09 lakh compared with 12.03 lakh in the previous quarter. It had lost 35,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011 while it added 41,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010, lost 14,000 readers in Q3 and added 7,000 readers in Q2 of IRS 2010.

At No.5 is Deccan Chronicle which has added 53,000 readers in Q2 of IRS 2011. The daily had lost 38,000 readers in Q1 2011. Its current AIR stands at 10.88 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 10.35 lakh in the last survey. The daily had lost 5,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010, lost 74,000 readers in Q3 but added 28,000 readers in Q2 of IRS 2010.

DNA continues to be the No.6 daily. It added just 2,000 readers in this quarter. Its current AIR stands at 8.24 lakh compared with 8.22 lakh in IRS Q1 2011. DNA had dislodged The Economic Times from No.6 position by adding 72,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011. In IRS Q2 2010, the daily had added 1.19 lakh readers to become the No.6 English daily of the country but was pushed to No.7 due to consecutive losses in Q3 and Q4 of IRS 2011.

Business daily The Economic Times has climbed one slot to No. 7 by adding 16,000 readers in the second quarter of IRS2011. The paper was pushed to No.8 position by DNA and Mumbai Mirror in IRS Q1 2011. ET has an AIR of 7.85 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 7.69 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

Mumbai Mirror has not been able to maintain its growth in Q2 2011. The daily has lost 22,000 readers in the quarter after adding 69,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011. Its current AIR stands at 7.58 lakh compared with 7.80 lakh in the last quarter. The daily had lost 45,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010 and 30,000 readers in IRS Q3 2010.

Despite a marginal loss of just 2,000 readers, The Tribune continues to be the 9th most read English daily. Its current AIR stands at 5.67 lakh compared with 5.69 lakh in Q1 2011.

Remaining at 10^th spot, The New Indian Express has shown some growth adding 9,000 readers in Q2 2011. The daily has recorded an AIR of 5.59 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 5.5 lakh 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 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.

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