Advertisment

IRS Q1 2012: Top 10 Language dailies

Nine out of the top ten language dailies witnessed decline; Gujarat Samachar is the only paper to add readers in the first quarter of IRS 2012. Malayala Manorama retains its No. 1 ranking

author-image
BestMediaInfo Bureau
New Update
IRS Q4 2012: Mixed bag for top 10 language dailies

IRS Q1 2012: Top 10 Language dailies

Nine out of the top ten language dailies witnessed decline; Gujarat Samachar is the only paper to add readers in the first quarter of IRS 2012. Malayala Manorama retains its No. 1 ranking

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 20, 2012

publive-imageThe first quarter of Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2012 has turned out to be a nightmare for language dailies as nine out of the top 10 dailies have witnessed decline. There is only one change in the pecking order at No. 8 where Gujarat Samachar, which is the only daily to register growth this quarter, has dislodged Dinakaran.

No. 1 language daily Malayalam daily, Malayala Manorama, has lost 62,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2012. Its current AIR stands at 98.75 lakh compared with 99.37 lakh in the previous quarter. The newspaper had added 25,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 but lost 50,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. Malayala Manorama had added 24,000 readers in the second quarter of IRS 2011 and 8,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

Marathi daily Lokmat continues to be the second most read language daily despite losing 77,000 readers in Q1 2012. It has recorded an AIR of 74.85 lakh this quarter against 75.62 lakh in Q4 2011. Lokmat had added 1.24 lakh readers in the previous quarter. It had lost 1.33 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 but added 1.09 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011.

Tamil daily Daily Thanthi closely follows Lokmat with an AIR of 74.77 lakh in IRS Q1 2012; however, it has registered a decline of 26,000 readers this quarter. Daily Thanthi was pushed to No. 3 from No. 2 by Lokmat in the previous quarter despite adding 56,000 readers. It had added 1.57 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 to take the No. 2 position. It had also added 1.03 lakh readers in Q2 and 1.73 lakh readers in Q1.

At No. 4 is Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, which has lost 66,000 readers recording an AIR of 66 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 compared with 66.66 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had added 36,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011. Mathrubhumi had lost 60,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 1.1 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011 but added 1.63 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011.

Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika has again witnessed decline in its AIR for the second consecutive quarter. By losing 79,000 readers, it has recorded an AIR of 59.70 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 compared with 60.49 lakh in the previous quarter. ABP had lost 49,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 while it had added 35,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. It had lost 55,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 and 54,000 readers in Q1 2011.

At No. 6 is Telugu daily Eenadu which has lost 85,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS Q1 2012. It recorded an AIR of 59.06 lakh against 59.91 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had lost its No.5 position by losing 110,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011. Eenadu had added 69,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 41,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 but lost 50,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

After a robust growth in the last few rounds, Telugu daily Sakshi has witnessed decline in the current round. By losing 59,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012, it has recorded an AIR of 52.44 lakh compared with 53.03 lakh in the previous quarter. Sakshi had added 84,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 1.13 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011. It had added 64,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 and 88,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011.

The only language daily showing growth in the first quarter of IRS 2012, Gujarat Samachar, has climbed to the No. 8 position. By adding 55.000 readers, the daily has recorded an AIR of 52.24 lakh against 51.69 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had lost 17,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011, 34,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 56,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011. Gujarat Samachar had added 99,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

The loss of 1.19 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2012 has pushed Tamil daily Dinakaran to No. 9 from last quarter's No. 8. The daily has recorded an AIR of 51.08 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 against 52.27 lakh in the previous quarter. It had an AIR of 52.53 lakh in IRS Q3 2011, 51.67 lakh in IRS Q2 2011 and 51.23 lakh in IRS Q1 2011. Dinakaran had added 86,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011, 44,000 readers in the second quarter of IRS 2011 and 1.46 lakh readers in Q1.

Marathi paper Daily Sakal has registered an AIR of 43.96 lakh compared with 44 lakh in the previous quarter. It had 42.73 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 44.48 lakh in IRS Q2 2011. The daily had added 1.27 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2011 lost 1.75 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011, 1.2 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011 and 84,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

Language dailies: All figures in '000
Publication IRS Q1 2012 IRS Q4 2011
Malayala Manorama 9875 9937
Lokmat 7485 7562
Daily Thanthi 7477 7503
Mathrubhumi 6600 6666
Anand Bazar Patrika 5970 6049
Eenadu 5906 5991
Sakshi 5244 5303
Gujarat Samachar 5224 5169
Dinakaran 5108 5227
Daily Sakal 4396 4400

-------------------------------------------------------------

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.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Advertisment