IRS Q1 2012: Top 10 English dailies

Seven out of the top dailies have registered growth; The New Indian Express remains the fastest growing English daily

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 19, 2012

Media Research Users Council (MRUC) has released the first quarter results of the Indian Readership Survey. Along with IRS 2012 Q1, the New Consumer Classification System (NCCS) data has also been released. NCCS is a household and individual aggregate-based system that has one classification for both Urban & Rural optimised for “Wealth/affluence” of consumers. It also indicates the propensity to spend beyond current income.

According to IRS Q1 2012, there is only one change in the pecking order while seven out of the top dailies have registered growth.

India's largest English daily, The Times of India, has registered marginal growth in the first quarter of IRS 2012. By adding 36,000 readers in the quarter, TOI has taken its AIR to 76.52 lakh compared with 76.16 lakh in the previous quarter. TOI had added 1.49 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2011 while it had lost 4,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. The daily had added 29,000 readers in the second quarter and 18,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011.

The No. 2 English daily, Hindustan Times, has also added 14,000 readers this quarter and recorded an AIR of 38.05 lakh in IRS Q1 2012. It had registered 1.55 per cent of growth in the previous quarter with AIR of 37.91 lakh. HT had lost 4,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 but added 45,000 readers in Q2 2011 and 1 lakh readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011.

The No. 3 English daily, The Hindu, has seen a marginal decline and lost 7,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012. Its current AIR stands at 22.33 lakh compared with 22.40 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had added 71,000 readers and registered more than 3 per cent of growth in IRS Q4 2011. The paper had added 92,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. It had lost 18,000 readers in Q2 2011 and 20,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011.

The Telegraph, from ABP Group, has recorded a marginal growth in its AIR over the last quarter. It has added 19,000 readers to take its AIR to 12.92 lakh in IRS Q1 2011 against 12.73 lakh in the previous quarter and 12.66 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 and 12.09 lakh in IRS Q2 2011. The daily had added 57,000 readers in Q3 2011 and 6,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 while it lost 35,000 readers in the first quarter.

At No. 5 is Deccan Chronicle which has lost again but the loss is marginal in comparison with the loss in the previous quarter when the daily had lost 5.5 per cent readers. By losing 7,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012, Deccan Chronicle has registered an AIR of 10.27 lakh compared with 10.34 in the previous quarter and 10.94 lakh in IRS Q3 2011. The daily had added 6,000 readers in the third quarter and 53,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 while it had lost 38,000 readers in Q1 2011.

DNA has also registered marginal growth by adding 12,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 to take its AIR at 9.09 lakh compared with 8.97 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had registered a growth of 4 per cent in the previous quarter. DNA had 8.63 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 8.24 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011. It had added 34,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 39,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011.

The Economic Times has made a comeback at No. 7 position by adding 2,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012. ET had lost 22,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and slipped to No. 8. Its current AIR stands at 7.92 lakh against 7.9 lakh in the previous quarter, 8.12 lakh in IRS Q3 2011, 7.85 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 7.69 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.

By losing 3.23 per cent readers in the first quarter of IRS Q1 2012, Mumbai Mirror has slipped to No. 8. Its current AIR stands at 7.77 lakh compared with 8.03 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had added 43,000 readers and registered 5.65 per cent growth in IRS Q4 2011 and 2,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 but lost 22,000 readers in IRS q2 2011. Mumbai Mirror had added 69,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

The New Indian Express continues to be the fastest growing English daily with 6.43 per cent growth in the first quarter of IRS 2012. It had grown by 7.41 per cent in Q4 of IRS 2011. The daily has registered an AIR of 6.78 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 compared with 6.37 lakh in the previous quarter. TNIE had 5.93 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 5.59 lakh in IRS Q2 2011.

After losing 14,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011, The Tribune has bounced back and added 39,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012. Its current AIR stands at 6.24 lakh compared with 5.85 lakh in the previous quarter. The Tribune had 5.99 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 5.67 lakh in IRS Q2 2011.

Table: All figures in '000

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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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