IRS Q3 2011: Top 10 dailies in Maharashtra

Hindustan Times enters top 10 list as the No. 9 newspaper in the state; all top 5 dailies lose readership in this round

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | December 30, 2011

The top five publications in Maharashtra have registered decline in readership in the third quarter of Indian Readership Survey 2011 while Maharashtra Times, Hindustan Times and Mumbai Mirror have added readers over the last quarter. Hindustan Times is the new entrant into the top 10 list.

After registering growth in the last round of IRS, Maharashtra's No. 1 daily Lokmat has seen a marginal dip in its AIR this quarter. The Marathi daily has lost 2 per cent readers and recorded an AIR of 72.71 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 against 74.26 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 73.05 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

Daily Sakal remains firm at No. 2 but the daily has registered de-growth of 3.88 per cent in the third quarter of IRS 2011. Its current AIR stands at 42.28 lakh compared with 43.99 lakh in the previous quarter and 45.11 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

Pudhari continues at No. 3 position in the state but it has lost 1 per cent readers in this quarter too. Its AIR stands at 24.87 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 against 25.11 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 25.89 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

India's most read English daily, The Times of India, has seen a dip of 2.5 per cent in its average issue readership for the second consecutive quarter. TOI has recorded an AIR of 19.61 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 compared with 20.12 lakh in the previous quarter and 20.5 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

The No. 5 daily, Punya Nagari, has continued to decline in this quarter too. The daily has lost a further 2 per cent readership to record an AIR of 16.81 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 against 17.16 lakh in the previous quarter and 18.1 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

Marathi daily Maharashtra Times, from the TOI Group, has registered growth this quarter. By adding 6.75 per cent readers, the newspaper has strengthened its position at No. 6. Its current AIR stands at 12.17 lakh against 11.40 lakh in the previous quarter and 11.48 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

At No. 7 is another Marathi daily, Loksatta, which too registered a marginal decline. Its AIR stands at 9.38 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 compared with 9.75 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 9.84 lakh in the first quarter of IRS 2011.

Deshonatti has an AIR to 8.31 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 compared with 8.35 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 7.44 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

Riding on the constant growth over several quarters, Hindustan Times has made an entry into top 10 list as the No. 9 newspaper in Maharashtra. Its current AIR stands at 7.66 lakh in IRS Q3 2011.

Mumbai Mirror, the tabloid English daily from the TOI stable, has an AIR of 7.60 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 against 7.58 lakh in the previous quarter and 7.8 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

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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 even calculate and compare cost-benefits of dailies based on the AIR figure. Hence, it is perhaps the most relevant to study readership trends as well in terms of AIR.

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