IRS Q1 2012: Top 10 English magazines
Seven out of the top 10 English magazines have registered growth; India Today remains No. 1; Pratiyogita Darpan replaces The Week at No. 6
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | March 21, 2012
The first quarter results of IRS 2012 have been much better than the previous quarter for English magazines. Like in the last quarter, when nine magazines had registered growth, IRS Q1 2012 has seven magazines in the top 10 showing some growth while three magazines have witnessed marginal losses. Pratiyogita Darpan English that entered the top 10 club in the previous quarter at No. 7 has climbed up one position this quarter, edging out The Week from the No. 6 seat.
India's largest read English magazine, India Today, has been able to hold its readers in IRS Q1 2012. By adding 2,000 readers, its AIR stands at 16.13 lakh against 16.11 lakh in the previous quarter. India Today had lost 25,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011and 88,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. It had added 74,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011.
At No. 2, General Knowledge Today has registered a marginal loss of 6,000 readers to record an AIR of 10.86 lakh in IRS Q1 2011 compared with 10.92 lakh in the previous quarter. The magazine had added 5,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 1.1 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 but lost 35,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011. It had an AIR of 10.87 in IRS Q3 2011, 9.77 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 10.02 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.
After 5.5 per cent growth in Q4 of IRS 2011, Reader's Digest has witnessed a marginal decline in the first quarter of IRS 2012. With a loss of 15,000 readers, its current AIR stands at 10.43 lakh compared with 10.58 lakh in the previous quarter. RD had an AIR of 9.98 lakh in the Q3 and Q2 rounds of 2011. It had added 60,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 28,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011.
At No. 4, educational English monthly, Competition Success Review, has been able to hold its readers. It added 5,000 readers to take its AIR to 7.05 lakh in IRS Q1 2012. It had grown by 6 per cent in the previous quarter. It had recorded an AIR of 6.97 lakh in IRS Q4 2011, 6.57 lakh in IRS Q3 2011, 6.54 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 6.84 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.
English weekly Outlook has also added 5,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 to record an AIR of 4.92 lakh against 4.87 lakh in the previous quarter. It had grown by 10 per cent in IRS Q4 2011. Outlook had an AIR of 4.44 lakh in IRS Q3 2011, 4.56 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 4.38 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.
Pratiyogita Darpan, which had entered the top ten club in the previous quarter at No. 7, has gone one position up this quarter. The English magazine has added 42,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 and recorded an AIR of 4.46 lakh compared with 4.04 lakh in the previous quarter.
After a robust growth 13 per cent in IRS Q4 2011, English magazine The Week has lost 20,000 readers and slipped one position to No. 7 in Q4 of IRS 2012. Its AIR stands at 4.18 lakh compared with 4.38 lakh in the previous quarter. The week had an AIR of 3.87 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 and 3.96 lakh in IRS Q2 2011. The magazine had recorded more than 22 per cent growth in IRS Q2 2011.
At No. 8 is the magazine for B-town, Stardust, which has added 8,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 to record an AIR of 4.11 lakh compared with 4.03 lakh in the previous quarter. It had added 18,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 43,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. Stardust had an AIR of 3.85 lakh in IRS Q3 2011 and 3.42 lakh in IRS Q2 2011.
Business Today has registered a growth of 11.5 per cent in the quarter. By adding 40,000 readers, it has recorded an AIR of 3.97 lakh compared with 3.57 lakh in the previous quarter. BT had an AIR of 3.45 lakh in IRS Q3 2011, 3.33 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 3.09 lakh in IRS Q1 2011.
Wisdom has also grown by 10 per cent in this round of survey, recording an AIR of 3.59 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 compared with 3.27 lakh in the previous quarter. It had 3.18 lakh reader in IRS Q3 2011.
English Magazines: All figures in '000 | ||
Publication | IRS Q1 2012 | IRS Q4 2011 |
India Today | 1613 | 1611 |
General Knowledge Today | 1086 | 1092 |
Readers Digest | 1043 | 1058 |
Competition Success Review | 705 | 697 |
Outlook | 492 | 487 |
Pratiyogita Darpan | 446 | 404 |
The Week | 438 | 418 |
Stardust | 411 | 403 |
Business Today | 397 | 357 |
Wisdom | 359 | 327 |
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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.