IRS 2019 Q3: Top two Marathi dailies witness surge in readership

Marathi dailies have bucked the trend of degrowth in the readership of newspapers in most of the regional markets as well as nationally. And this is evident from the readership data for the top two Marathi dailies, Lokmat and Daily Sakal, for the third quarter of 2019.

Both the dailies have registered significant growth in IRS 2019 Q3 in their average issue readership and total readership numbers over the first quarter.

Lokmat remained the No. 1 Marathi daily with an AIR of 61,46,000, up 2% from 60,14,000 in Q1, and up 2.6% from 59,88,000 in Q2.

Lokmat’s TR stood at 2,14,57,000 in the latest round of the survey, up 10.2% from 1,94,69,000 in Q1, and up 6.4% from 2,01,69,000 in Q2.

Karan Darda, Executive Director, Lokmat Media Group, commented, “In Maharashtra, Lokmat’s growth in readership numbers is a testimony to our stand of having a robust circulation supported by the cutting edge editorial and focused market initiatives. I am satisfied with the growth in IRS 2019/Q3 results for Maharashtra over IRS 2019/Q1, Q2 and IRS 2017 result. Above all we owe this position of unchallenged leadership to our readers.”

Daily Sakal’s average issue readership grew by a staggering 27% in two quarters. The daily recorded an AIR of 38,60,000 in Q3, up 27% from 30,41,000 in Q1, and up 7.6% in Q2.

In total readership also, Sakal witnessed significant growth over the last two consecutive quarters. It had a TR of 1,39,60,000 in the latest round of the survey, up 20% from 1,16,68,000 in Q1, and up 9% from 1,27,71,000 in Q2.

Average Issue Readership (AIR) in 000s in 2019 - Marathi dailies

Total Readership (TR) in 000s in 2019 - Marathi dailies

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