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IRS Q2 2012: Top 10 Language dailies

Malayala Manorama leads, Lokmat is No. 2; Eenadu replaces Anandabazar Patrika as fifth largest language daily

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IRS Q4 2012: Mixed bag for top 10 language dailies

IRS Q2 2012: Top 10 Language dailies

Malayala Manorama leads, Lokmat is No. 2; Eenadu replaces Anandabazar Patrika as fifth largest language daily

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | October 3, 2012

publive-imageThe trend among top language dailies is exactly similar to English and Hindi dailies in the second quarter of IRS 2012 where only four out of top 10 dailies have registered growth along with only one change in the pecking order. However, the performance of language dailies has improved in comparison to the last quarter when nine out of the top 10 dailies had witnessed decline. Eenadu is again India's fifth most read language daily by replacing Anandabazar Patrika which has suffered loss in readerships in three consecutive quarters.

The decline in readership of India's No. 1 language daily, Malayalam daily Malayala Manorama, continues for the second quarter in a row. According to the Average Issue Readership (AIR), the daily has lost 1.65 lakh readers in the second quarter of IRS Q2 2012. Its current AIR stands at 97.10 lakh compared with 98.75 lakh in the previous quarter and 99.37 lakh in IRS Q4 2012. In IRS Q1 2012 also, the newspaper had lost 62,000 readers but it had added 25,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011.Malayala Manorama had lost 50,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 while it 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 in the country. The paper has not only witnessed growth in the current round of the survey but it has also widened the gap with No. 3 language daily 'Daily Thanthi'. By adding 22,000 readers, Lokmat has recorded an AIR of 75.07 lakh against 74.85 lakh in the previous quarter and 75.62 lakh in Q4 2011. Lokmat had lost 77,000 readers in Q1 2012 while it had added 1.24 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2011. 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 has not been able to hold its readership for the second consecutive quarter. After losing 26,000 readers in the previous quarter, the daily has again lost 46,000 readers in the current survey. Its AIR stands at 74.30 lakh in IRS Q2 2012 against 74.77 lakh in the last survey. Daily Thanthi had added 56,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011, 1.57 lakh readers in Q3, 1.03 lakh readers in Q2 and 1.73 lakh readers in Q1.

At No. 4 is Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi, which has again witnessed decline in its readership for the second quarter in a row. It has lost 1.07 lakh readers to record an AIR of 64.93 lakh compared with 66 lakh in the previous quarter and 66.66 lakh in IRS Q4 2012. The daily had lost 66,000 readers in the previous round of IRS while it 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.

Telugu daily Eenadu has made a comeback at No. 5 replacing Anandabazar Patrika. By adding 19,000 readers, it has recorded an AIR of 59.25 lakh compared with 59.06 lakh in the previous quarter and 59.91 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. The daily had lost 85,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 and 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.

For the third quarter in a row Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika has witnessed decline in its AIR. By losing1.11 lakh readers, it has recorded an AIR of 58.59 lakh in IRS Q2 2012 against 59.70 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 60.49 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. ABP had lost 79,000 readers in the previous quarter and 49,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011. The daily 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. 7 is Telugu daily Sakshi, which seems to be back on the growth path. The daily has added 62,000 readers to record an AIR of 53.06 lakh against 52.44 lakh in the previous quarter and 53.03 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. Sakshi had lost 59,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 while it had added 84,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 1.13 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011. It had also added 64,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011 and 88,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2011.

Despite a marginal loss in its readership in IRS Q2 2012, Gujarat Samachar has held on to its No. 8 position with a convincing margin. The daily has recorded an AIR of 52.05 lakh against 52.24 lakh in the previous quarter and 51.69 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. It had added 55,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 while it 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.

After a loss of 1.19 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2012, Tamil daily Dinakaran has further lost 1.09 lakh readers this quarter. The daily has recorded an AIR of 49.99 lakh in IRS Q2 2012 against 51.08 in the previous quarter and 52.27 lakh in IRS Q4 2011, 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 44.37 lakh compared with 43.96 lakh in the previous quarter and 44 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. 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.

Top 10 Language Dailies
Publication IRS Q2 2012 IRS Q1 2012
Malayala Manorama 9710 9875
Lokmat 7507 7485
Daily Thanthi 7431 7477
Mathrubhumi 6493 6600
Eenadu 5925 5906
Ananda Bazar Patrika 5859 5970
Sakshi 5306 5244
Gujarat Samachar 5205 5224
Dinakaran 4999 5108
Daily Sakal 4437 4396

(AIR numbers; 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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