IRS Q3 2012: Good quarter for Top 10 English dailies
Seven out of the top 10 dailies
register growth in their Average Issue Readership (AIR). No change in
the pecking order. The Hindu adds maximum readers
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | January 29, 2013
Media
Research Users Council (MRUC) has released the third quarter results of
the Indian Readership Survey. According to IRS Q3 2012, there is no any
change in the pecking order of the top 10 English dailies. Seven out of
the top 10 dailies have registered growth in their Average Issue
Readership (AIR) in comparison to the second round of IRS in 2012.
India’s largest English daily, The Times of India, has
recovered its previous quarter’s loss by adding 10,000 readers in the
third quarter of IRS 2012. It has recorded an AIR of 76.53 lakh in this
survey compared with 76.43 lakh in the previous quarter, 76.52 lakh in
IRS Q1 2012 and 76.16 lakh in IRS Q4 2011.
The No. 2 English daily, Hindustan Times, has
also added 19,000 readers in IRS Q3 2012 recording an AIR of 37.86 lakh
compared with 37.67 lakh in IRS Q2 2012 and 38.05 lakh in IRS Q1 2012.
HT had lost 35,000 readers in IRS Q2 2012 but had added 14,000 readers
in IRS Q1 2012 and 58,000 readers in IRS Q4 2012.
The No. 3 English daily, The Hindu, has
added the maximum readers in the third quarter. The daily has added
50,000 readers in IRS Q3 2012 after losing 25,000 readers in IRS Q2 2012
and 7,000 readers in IRS Q1 2012. Its current AIR stands at 22.58 lakh
compared with 22.08 lakh in the previous quarter.
The Telegraph, from ABP Group, has
again registered a decline. By losing 21,000 readers in the current
survey, the daily has recorded and AIR of 12.54 lakh against 12.75 lakh
in IRS Q2 2012, 12.92 lakh in IRS Q1 2011, 12.73 lakh in IRS Q4 2011 and
12.66 lakh in IRS Q3 2011.
Deccan Chronicle has grown
in this quarter by adding 13,000 readers. It has recorded an AIR of
10.51 lakh in IRS Q3 2012 against 10.38 lakh in IRS Q2 2012, 10.27 lakh
in IRS Q1 2012, 10.34 in IRS Q4 2011 and 10.94 lakh in IRS Q3 2011.
DNA follows Deccan
Chronicle and continued on the growth path this quarter. The daily has
registered an AIR of 9.62 lakh in IRS Q3 2012 compared with 9.30 lakh in
IRS Q2 2012, 9.09 lakh in IRS Q1 2012 and 8.97 lakh in IRS Q4 2011. DNA
had 8.63 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 8.24 lakh readers in IRS Q2
2011.
Mumbai Mirror, from the TOI stable, also
added 12,000 readers this quarter. Its current AIR stands at 8.07 lakh
in IRS Q3 2012 compared with 7.95 lakh in Q2, 7.77 lakh in Q1 2012 and
8.03 in IRS Q4 2011.
The Economic Times continues
to be the No. 8 newspaper despite losing 36,000 readers in the current
survey. Its current AIR stands at 7.53 lakh against 7.89 lakh in Q2,
7.92 lakh in Q1 2012, 7.9 lakh in Q4 2011 and 8.12 lakh in IRS Q3 2011.
The New Indian Express has
witnessed a slight decline again. The daily has recorded an AIR of 6.64
lakh in IRS Q3 2012 compared with 6.67 lakh in the previous quarter and
6.78 lakh in Q1 2012. TNIE had 6.37 lakh readers in IRS Q4 2011, 5.93
lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 5.59 lakh in IRS Q2 2011.
The Tribune has added a
few readers for the third consecutive round of IRS. The daily has added
13,000 readers to take its AIR at 6.53 lakh compared with 6.40 lakh in
the previous quarter and 6.24 lakh in IRS Q1 2012. The Tribune had 5.85
lakh readers in IRS Q4 2011, 5.99 lakh readers in IRS Q3 2011 and 5.67
lakh in IRS Q2 2011.
|
Top 10 English Dailies
|
||
| Publication | IRS Q3 2012 | IRS Q2 2012 |
| The Times of India | 7653 | 7643 |
| Hindustan Times | 3786 | 3767 |
| The Hindu | 2258 | 2208 |
| The Telegraph | 1254 | 1275 |
| Deccan Chronicle | 1051 | 1038 |
| DNA | 962 | 930 |
| Mumbai Mirror | 807 | 795 |
| The Economic Times | 753 | 789 |
| The New Indian Express | 664 | 667 |
| The Tribune | 653 | 640 |
(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.
