IRS Q4 2012: Tough quarter for top 10 English magazines

Except Pratiyogita Darpan, all the other nine magazines have registered decline in their readership. India Today continues to be the No. 1 magazine in the country

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | March 29, 2013

IRS Q4 2012 has proved to be a nightmare for the top 10 English magazines. With the exception of Pratiyogita Darpan, all other nine magazines have registered decline in their readership. Pratiyogita Darpan has also made a comeback at No. 6, a position it had lost in the last quarter.

India Today continues to be India's most read English magazine despite losing 46,000 readers in the current survey. Its AIR now stands at 14.8 lakh against 15.26 lakh in the previous quarter, 15.54 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 16.13 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 16.11 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

At No. 2, General Knowledge Today lost 54,000 readers to record an AIR of 9.93 lakh in the current survey compared with 10.47 lakh in IRS Q3 2012, 10.87 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 10.86 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 10.92 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

After adding a few readers in the previous survey, Reader's Digest has lost 58,000 readers in the current survey. The monthly has recorded an AIR of 9.58 lakh in IRS Q4 2012 compared with 10.16 lakh in IRS Q3 2012, 10.09 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 10.43 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 10.58 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

At No. 4, educational English monthly, Competition Success Review, has witnessed degrowth for the second quarter in a row. After losing 33,000 readers, its current AIR stands at 6.7 lakh compared with 7.03 lakh in the previous quarter, 7.19 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 7.05 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 6.97 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

Outlook too has seen a slight dip in its readership in the fourth quarter of IRS 2012. The weekly has lost 23,000 readers in this survey and recorded an AIR of 4.51 lakh against 4.74 lakh in the previous quarter, 4.83 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 4.92 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 4.87 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

Pratiyogita Darpan has regained the No. 6 position, which it lost in the previous quarter, after adding 14,000 readers in the current survey. The educational magazine has recorded an AIR of 4.31 lakh against 4.17 lakh in the previous quarter, 4.31 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 4.46 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 4.04 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

At No. 7, The Week has lost 10,000 readers recording an AIR of 4.14 lakh in IRS Q4 2012. The weekly had 4.24 lakh readers in in the previous quarter, 3.97 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 4.18 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 4.38 in IRS Q4 2011.

Stardust has held on to the No. 8 position with an AIR of 4.06 lakh in IRS Q4 2012. The magazine had an AIR of 4.20 lakh in the previous quarter, 4.16 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 4.11 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 4.03 in IRS Q4 2011.

Business Today has recorded an AIR of 4.03 lakh against 4.06 lakh in the previous quarter, 4.08 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 3.97 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 3.57 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.

Wisdom has recorded an AIR of 3.34 lakh in IRS Q4 2012 compared with 3.46 lakh in the previous quarter, 3.53 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 3.59 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 3.27 in IRS Q4 2011.

(AIR numbers; All figures in '000)

————————————————————-

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