IRS Q2 2011: Top 10 dailies in Kerala

Five dailies out of top 10 newspapers in the state have witnessed growth; Mangalam replaces Kerala Kaumudi to take fifth position

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 7, 2011

Kerala's No. 1 daily Malayala Manorama has maintained its leadership and registered a marginal growth in the second quarter of IRS 2011. Its current AIR stands at 98.69 lakh compared with 98.37 lakh in the previous quarter and 97.59 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. Thus, the daily has added 1.1 per cent more readers over the second quarter of IRS 2010.

Mathrubhumi has recorded a loss of 1.03 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011. At 2^nd spot, its current AIR stands at 66.69 lakh against 67.72 lakh in IRS Q1 2011. The daily had 65.45 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2010. Overall, Mathrubhumi has seen a marginal growth of 1.9 per cent in its AIR over the year.

The 3^rd major player in Kerala, Deshabhimani, has been losing readers from the first quarter of 2011. After a decline of close to 10 per cent in the last quarter, the paper has again lost 3.4 per cent readers in IRS Q2 2011. Its current AIR now stands at 21.05 lakh compared with 21.8 lakh in the previous quarter and 22.76 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. Thus, the daily has recorded an overall loss of 7.5 per cent over the last one year.

The only paper in Kerala that has seen robust growth during the year is Madhyamam. The No. 4 daily of the state has grown by 8.2 per cent over the previous quarter and 36.9 per cent over IRS Q2 2010. Madhyamam has recorded an AIR of 9.54 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 against 8.82 lakh in the last quarter and 6.97 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

There is a change in the No. 5 position which has now been acquired by Mangalam which has grown by more than 12 per cent this quarter. The daily has recorded an AIR of 5.62 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 5 lakh in the previous quarter and 5.16 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. Thus, it has grown 8.9 per cent overall in the last one year.

The declining trend for Kerala Kaumudi has resulted in a loss of 36 per cent readership in the last one year. The paper has an AIR of 5.32 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 against 5.7 lakh in the last quarter and 8.37 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

The No. 7 daily in Kerala is The Hindu. Its AIR stands at 3.1 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 3.24 lakh in the previous quarter and 3.76 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

The New Indian Express has added just 3,000 readers in its AIR in IRS Q2 2011. The English daily has an AIR of 2.18 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 compared with 2.15 lakh in the previous quarter and 2.95 lakh in IRS Q2 2010. The paper is still to overcome the setback of a loss of 26 per cent in Q2 2010.

Deepika has maintained its readership this quarter recording an AIR of 1.9 lakh against 1.89 lakh in the previous quarter and 1.8 lakh in the second quarter of IRS 2010.

Kerala Kumudi Flash is the last in the top 10 list of dailies in Kerala with 1.63 lakh readers compared with 1.7 lakh readers in the previous survey and 2.06 lakh in IRS Q2 2010.

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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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