Newspapers fare well, magazines shed circulation: IRS Q4
14 Mar 2011
Newspapers in India continue to do well, as a growing number of readers, hungry for news, continue buying them, despite the proliferation of news channels. However, there is bad news for magazines that are facing falling circulation.
These are the key findings of the fourth-quarter data for 2010 of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) conducted by the Media Research User's Council (MRUC).
According to IRS Q4 2010 data released on Monday, most of the top-selling dailies continued to see robust growth in circulation, while eight of the 10 top magazines have seen a decline in readership.
Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, with an average issue readership (AIR) of 16.06 million, topped the list of dailies. It's AIR rose from 15.95 million in Q3 of 2010 to 16.06 million. Number two ranked Dainik Bhaskar saw AIR rise to 13.99 million from 13.48 million. Hindustan, another Hindi daily, saw AIR expand to 11.45 million from 10.83 million.
Malayala Manorama was the fourth-largest selling daily, with an AIR of 9.93 million, a marginal fall from the Q3 figure of 9.94 million. Amar Ujala, a Hindi daily, saw its AIR expand to 8.64 million. Though Marathi daily Lokmat saw a fall in AIR – to 7.71 million from 7.8 million – it retained its sixth spot.
The Times of India, India's largest-selling English daily, ranked seventh among all dailies, with an AIR of 7.42 million, up from 7.25 million. Rajasthan Patrika (7.16 million, down from 7.21 million) ranked eighth, followed by Daily Thanthi (Tamil) and Mathrubhumi (Malayalam).
