IRS Q2 2011: Top 10 Language dailies

6 out of top 10 language dailies register growth; no change in order according to the AIR

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 3, 2011

Continuing with the trend in first quarter, the 6 out of top 10 language dailies in the country have registered growth while the loss for other 4 publications have been marginal. Similar to the last quarter, there is no change in pecking order recorded in IRS Q2 2011.

India's largest read language daily Malayalam newspaper 'Malayala Manorama' has maintained its leadership and added 24,000 readers this quarter. The newspaper has recorded an AIR of 99.62 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 as compared to 99.38 lakh in the previous quarter. Malayala Manorama had added 8,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011, lost 10,000 readers in Q4 2010 but added 86,000 readers in Q3 2010 and 2.6 lakh readers in Q2 2010.

The largest read Marathi daily 'Lokmat' continues to be the second largest read language daily in the country. The newspaper has strengthened its position in the second quarter of IRS 2011 by adding 1.09 lakh readers. Lokmat has recorded an AIR of 75.95 lakh in this round of survey as compared to 74.86 lakh in the previous quarter. After a continuous growth in IRS Q2 2010 and Q3 2010, Lokmat had seen a slight decline in IRS Q1 2011 and Q4 2010. Lokmat had added 4.07 lakh readers in Q3 while it added added 41,000 readers in Q2 of IRS 2010.

No. 3 language daily of the country Tamil newspaper 'Daily Thanthi' has also added 1.03 lakh readers in Q2 2011 to take its AIR at 72.90 lakh as compared to 71.87 lakh in the previous round of survey. The paper had added 1.73 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011 also. Daily Thanthi had lost 2.31 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2010, and 1.57 lakh readers in Q3 2010.

Another Malayalam daily 'Mathrubhumi' has recorded a slight decline in its average issue readership. By losing 1.10 lakh readers in this quarter, the daily has recorded an AIR of 66.90 lakh as compared to 68 lakh in the previous quarter. Mathrubhumi had added 1.63 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011, lost 41,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010, added 1.12 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2010.

India's 5^th largest language daily is Bangla newspaper 'Anand Bazar Patrika' which is continuously losing its readers from past few weeks. After losing 55,000 readers, its current AIR stands at 60.63 lakh as compared to 61.18 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had lost 54,000 readers in Q1 2011 while it had lost 1.05 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2010 and 2.62 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2010.

Telugu daily 'Eenadu' hold the 6^th spot among the top languages daily in the country which has registered some growth in this quarter after losing readership for two quarters. The daily has added 41,000 readers in this quarter while it had lost 50,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011, 1.20 lakh readers in the fourth quarter of IRS 2010, but added 7000 readers in the third quarter of IRS 2010.

At No. 7 is Gujarati daily 'Gujarat Samachar' which has registered a marginal decline of 56,000 in IRS Q2 2011 results. The newspaper had added 99,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011 while it had lost 72,000 readers in IRS Q4 2010. The daily had added 31,000 readers in the third quarter of IRS 2010. 'Gujrat Samachar' has recorded AIR of 52.20 lakh in the current survey as compared to 52.20 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

The Tamil daily 'Dinakaran' is continuously growing from consecutive 3 quarters of survey. The daily has added 44,000 readers in the second quarter of IRS 2011 while it had added 1.46 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011 and 1.16 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2010 but lost 1.80 lakh readers in the third quarter of IRS Q3 2010. Dinakarn has recorded an AIR of 51.67 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 as compared to 51.23 lakh in the previous quarter.

Telugu daily 'Sakshi' has strengthened its position as ninth largest read language of the country by adding 64,000 readers in this quarter. The daily has taken its AIR at 51.06 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 as compared to 50.42 lakh in the previous quarter. The newspaper had added 88,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011, 1.38 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2010 and 1.78 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2010.

At No.10 is Marathi daily 'Daily Sakal' which has seen some decline in its Average Issue Readership in the second quarter of IRS 2011. The daily has lost 1,20,000 readers in this quarter while it had lost 84,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011 but added 13,000 readers in Q4 2010. The newspaper had added 4.37 lakh readers in Q3 and 1.1 lakh readers in Q2. Its current AIR stands at 44.48 lakh as compared to 45.68 lakh in the previous quarter.

******************************

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

Info@BestMediaInfo.com