Daily Jagran is top seller as newspaper sales zoom in emerging economies

The Hindi language daily Dainik Jagran is now the largest selling daily in the world with a circulation of more than 17 million and a readership of 54.5 million, as the print media continues to flourish in most of the emerging economies such as India, China and Brazil.

In contrast, newspaper sales in many parts of the world, especially in the developed West, are on the decline, media reports said today.

Jagran Prakashan, the paper's publisher has seen its share price soar by 54 per cent since the start of the year. One of the beneficiaries has been Independent News & Media with a 13.5 per cent stake. It had a 20.8 per cent holding in the company in July. 

The reports also point to the booming sales of tabloids in Brazil citing the example of Super Noticia, a paper in Belo Horizonte - a city with a population of 2 million. The tabloid saw its circulation grow to 293,178 copies a day in May.

Super Noticia leads Brazil's tabloid revolution, which accounts for the sale of 1.5 million copies a day. Five years back the tabloids could barely sell around 400,000 copies a day. This is in sharp contrast to the broadsheets that are steadily losing out on sales.

Parallels are being drawn with 19th century Britain, when the first tabloids appeared to serve a newly-literate working class.