IRS Q2 2011: Top 10 dailies in Gujarat

Top publications in the state hold their readership in this quarter  compared with the last round of the survey

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 4, 2011

Indian Readership Survey findings for the first quarter of 2011 have brought good news for publications in Gujarat after four consecutive weak rounds. Seven out of top 10 dailies in the state have registered growth in IRS Q1 2011.

Gujarat's No.1 daily, Gujarat Samachar, has maintained its readership and top spot. Its current AIR stands at 44.44 lakh against 44.49 lakh in the previous quarter and 45.06 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. Gujarat Samachar has lost readership of 1.4 per cent over the past one year.

Dainik Bhaskar Group's Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar has added just 2,000 readers in Q2 of IRS 2011 but has added 1.7 lakh readers over the past one year. The newspaper has recorded an AIR of 35.36 lakh compared with 35.34 in the previous quarter and 33.66 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. Thus, the daily has grown by more than 5 per cent in the past one year.

The No. 3 player in Gujarat, Sandesh, has grown by 3 per cent over the previous quarter and 6.5 per cent over the last one year. The newspaper has recorded an AIR of 33.29 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 against 32.32 lakh in the last survey and 31.27 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

India's No.1 English daily, The Times of India, has consolidated its position at No.4 in Gujarat. The daily has added readership of more than 44 per cent in the past one year. By adding 8,000 readers, TOI has recorded AIR of 3.35 lakh in IRS Q2 2011. It had 2.32 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2010.

Gujarat's 5^th most-read daily, Saurashtra Samachar, has managed to hold its readers in this quarter with 2.3 lakh AIR but has lost more than 31 per cent over the last one year. The paper had an AIR of 2.31 lakh in IRS Q1 2011 and 3.34 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

At No.6 is Gujarat Mitra & Darpan, which has shown some growth in this quarter after losing readers in the last two rounds. The daily has added 6,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 and its AIR now stands at 1.76 lakh compared with 1.7 lakh in the previous survey and 1.86 lakh in Q2 2010.

At No. 7 is Gujarati daily Kutch Mitra which has lost 7,000 readers in this round but added 13,000 readers over the past one year. Its current AIR stands at 1.14 lakh.

The new entrant in the top 10 is Jai Hind at No.8 with AIR of 85,000 while Rajasthan Patrika has shifted to No. 9 spot with AIR of 57,000. At No.10 is another new entrant, Phulchhab Daily, with 54,000 readers.

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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.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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