IRS Q1 2012: Top 10 Hindi dailies

No change in pecking order of top 10 Hindi dailies. Jagran stays numero uno. Prabhat Khabar and Patrika register highest growth rates

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | June 19, 2012

The first quarter results of IRS 2012 have brought good news for seven out of the top ten Hindi dailies. While there is no change in the pecking order, Prabhat Khabar and Patrika have registered the highest growth rates.

India's No. 1 Hindi daily, Dainik Jagran, has maintained its position. It added just 2,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 to record an AIR of 1,64,12,000 compared with 1,64,10,000 in the previous quarter. Dainik Jagran had 1,64,58,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 1,63,93,000 in IRS Q2 2011. The daily had lost 48,000 readers in the previous quarter but added 65,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 4.83 lakh readers in Q2 of IRS 2011.

After losing 2.74 lakh readers in the previous quarter, Dainik Bhaskar has lost 49,000 readers in Q1 2012. Its current AIR stands at 1,45,53,000 against 1,46,02,000 in the previous quarter. The daily had added 7.02 lakh readers in Q3 2011 and 1.58 lakh readers in Q2 2011. Bhaskar had added 25,000 readers to its AIR in IRS Q1 2011.

At No. 3, Hindustan continues growing steadily. The daily has added 1,12,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012 to record an AIR of 1,21,57,000 compared with 1,20,45,000 in the previous quarter. It had added 12,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011, 48,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011, 1.75 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011 and 3.58 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011.

The fourth largest read Hindi daily, Amar Ujala, has seen a decline in the first quarter of IRS 2012. The daily has recorded an AIR of 86.93 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 compared with 88.42 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. It had added 6,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 but lost 55,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. It had added 1.44 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011 and 1.07 lakh readers in IRS Q1 2011.

At No. 5, Rajasthan Patrika's declining trend continues in this quarter also. The daily has lost 40,000 readers to record an AIR of 68.07 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 against 68.47 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had lost 71,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011, 23,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 92,000 readers in IRS Q2 2011.

The No. 6 Hindi daily, Punjab Kesri, has added 56,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2012. Its current AIR stands at 33.86 lakh compared with 33.3 lakh in the previous quarter. Punjab Kesri had added 4,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 but lost 88,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011, 65,000 in IRS Q2 2011 and 80,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

After continuous losses in the last two rounds, Navbharat Times has added 15,000 readers in the first quarter of IRS 2012. The daily has recorded an AIR of 25.88 lakh in the current survey compared with 25.73 lakh in the previous round. NBT had lost 8,000 readers in IRS Q4 2011 and 69,000 readers in IRS Q3 2011. The daily had added 61,000 readers in its AIR in IRS Q2 2011 and 10,000 readers in IRS Q1 2011.

Prabhat Khabar is swiftly growing in Jharkhand and Bihar quarter-on-quarter basis. The daily has grown by 11.4 per cent in the first quarter of IRS 2012, adding 2.50 lakh readers. Its current AIR stands at 24.37 lakh compared with 21.87 lakh in the previous quarter. Prabhat Khabar had added 1.24 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2011, 1.7 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011, 81,000 readers in Q2 2011 and 1,33,000 readers in Q1 2011.

The other fastest growing Hindi daily is Patrika which has grown by 8.9 per cent in the first quarter of IRS 2012. Its current AIR stands at 19.46 lakh compared with 17.87 lakh in the previous quarter. The daily had recorded a growth of 25 per cent in IRS Q4 2011. Patrika had 14.3 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 12.51 lakh readers in IRS Q2 2011.

At No. 10, Nai Dunia has registered growth and added 39,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012. The newspaper's current AIR stands at 16.88 lakh compared with 16.49 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. It had an AIR of 16.30 in IRS Q3 and 17.14 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.

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.

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