IRS 2008 R1: NaiDunia issues legal notice to MRUC over readership figures

The Times of India has retained its leadership position in both Delhi and Mumbai according to the Round 1 of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008. An interesting point here is that the readership of key publications in Delhi has seen a clear decline unlike in Mumbai, where players have managed to hold on to their readers.

In Delhi, The Times of India’s readership dipped by 1 per cent to 2,113,000, whereas in Mumbai, the paper has registered a marginal increase from 1,553,000 in the last round to 1,571,000.

Delhi per se has shown decline for all the players. Hindustan Times, the second highest read publication in Delhi, has seen a drop of 2 per cent from 1,907,000 in the last round to 1,862,000. The Hindu has dropped 14 per cent drop from 92,000 to 79,000, while Indian Express, which had a readership of 68,000 in 2007 Round 2, has dropped to 66,000 in this round, registering a 3 per cent dip.

On the other hand, in Mumbai, all players, with the exception of Indian Express, have shown an increase in readership. Market leader The Times of India has seen a 1 per cent increase, while its sibling Mumbai Mirror has increased by 3 per cent with a readership of 737,000, thus becoming the second most read paper in Mumbai. DNA, with a readership of 622,000 is at No. 3. The daily has show a 3 per cent rise from the 603,000 it had in the last round.

Mid-Day has seen a 4 per cent increase in readership from 516,000 that it had in IRS 2007 Round 2 to 538,000 in this round. The Hindustan Times has registered an 8 per cent increase – from 354,000 to 381,000, while Indian Express has seen a 16 per cent fall, from 81,000 in the last round to 68,000 in this round.

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IRS 2008 R1: Dainik Jagran continues the lead in Hindi dailies; TOI leads English

IRS 2008 R1: No surprises in the language wise leaders as well

IRS 2008 R1: Saras Salil continues its lead in the overall magazine genre

According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008 Round 1, the magazine genre is dominated by Hindi and other vernacular publications, with India Today being the only English magazine to make it to the top 10 list. In fact, five of the top 10 magazines are in Hindi language.

Hindi fortnightly Saras Salil leads in the overall magazine genre with a total readership of 98 lakh, followed by Hindi magazine Grih Shobha with a total readership of 76 lakh. Tamil weeklies Kumudam and Kungumam share the No. 3 position with a total readership of 74 lakh each. India Today, the only English magazine to make it to the top 10 list, is at No. 5 with a total readership of 69 lakh.

India Today Hindi takes the sixth slot with a total readership of 67 lakh. Malayalam fortnightly Vanitha follows with a readership of 60 lakh. Hindi monthly Meri Saheli is at No. 8 with a readership of 59 lakh. Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan is at No. 9 with a total readership of 56 lakh, while Hindi monthly Cricket Samrat is in the tenth slot with a total readership of 52 lakh.

The Media Research Users’ Council (MRUC) has further broken up the data on the basis of the periodicity of the magazines.

The top 10 weeklies see Tamil publication Kungumam lead the chart with a total readership of 74 lakh. India Today English and India Today Hindi follow with readerships of 69 lakh and 67 lakh, respectively.

Ananda Vikatan (Tamil) has a total readership of 56 lakh; Tamil bi-weekly Junior Vikatan has a total readership of 36 lakh; Balarama Malayalam has a total readership of 35 lakh; Swati Sapari Vara Patrika (Telugu) has a total readership of 28 lakh; Malayala Manorama has a total readership of 28 lakh; Sadin (Assamese) has a total readership of 24 lakh; while English weekly Outlook takes the tenth position with a total readership of 19 lakh.

In the top 10 fortnightlies’ list, Hindi publication Saras Salil leads with a total readership of 98 lakh, followed by Vanitha (Malayalam) with a readership of 60 lakh. Champak (Hindi) is at 41 lakh, and Sarita is at 37 lakh. Tamil publication Aval Vikatan takes the fifth position with a total readership of 22 lakh. Bengali publications Sananda (21 lakh) and Anandalok (17 lakh) take the sixth and seventh slots, respectively. Hindi fortnightly Balhans follows at 16 lakh, while English magazines Femina and Business Today have a total readership of 14 lakh each.

Among the top 10 monthlies, the top four positions are taken by Hindi publications – Grih Shobha leads with a total readership of 76 lakh, followed by Meri Saheli (59 lakh), Cricket Samrat (52 lakh) and Grehlakshmi (49 lakh). English magazine Readers’ Digest is at No. 5 with a total readership of 45 lakh.

Hindi publication Pratiyogita Darpan takes the sixth slot with a total readership of 42 lakh. General Knowledge Today is at 39 lakh; Manohar Kahaniyan is at 37 lakh; Filmfare is at 35 lakh; and Competition Success Review is at 31 lakh.

The Round 1 of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008 shows that the language wise leaders in the total readership parameter have kept a grip on their positions, though some have registered marginal declines. Ananda Bazar Patrika, Gujarat Samachar, Vijay Karnataka, Malayala Manorama, Lokmat, Daily Thanthi and Eenadu lead in their respective languages.

Among Bengali dailies, Ananda Bazar Patrika is on the top with a total readership of 156 lakh, a drop from the 158 lakh readership that it had in the IRS 2007 R2. Bartaman follows with a readership of 86 lakh; Sangbad Pratidin with 44 lakh readership; Ganashakti with 37 lakh readership, and Aajkaal at No. 5 with a total readership of 33 lakh.

Gujarat Samachar leads among Gujarati dailies with a total readership of 88 lakh, an increase from 85 lakh that it had in the last round. Sandesh is at No. 2 with a total readership of 69 lakh, and Divya Bhaskar is in third position with a total readership of 60 lakh. Bombay Samachar, Gujarat Mitra and Darpan follow.

Lokmat leads the Marathi dailies list with a total readership of 206 lakh, a drop from the 207 lakh that it had in IRS 2007 R2. Daily Sakaal is at No. 2 with 123 lakh readership, followed by Punya Nagari with a total readership of 95 lakh, Pudhari with a readership of 63 lakh, and Loksatta with a readership of 44 lakh.

Vijay Karnataka is the leader among Kannada dailies with a total readership of 96 lakh, as against 99 lakh in the last round. Prajavani (64 lakh) is at No. 2; Samyukta Karnataka (32 lakh) is at No. 3; Udayavani (26 lakh) is at No. 4, and Kannada Prabha is in the fifth position with a total readership of 24 lakh.

Further south, Malayala Manorama is the clear leader among Malayalam dailies with a total readership of 127 lakh, a fall from the 129 lakh readership in the last round.

Mathrubhumi follows with a total readership of 101 lakh, Deshabhimani (33 lakh) at No. 3, Madhyamam (14 lakh) at No. 4, and Kerala Kaumudi (13 lakh) at No. 5.

In the Tamil dailies market, Daily Thanthi tops with a total readership of 206 lakh as against a total readership of 209 lakh in the last round. Dinakaran comes next with a readership of 170 lakh, followed by Dinamalar (110 lakh) at No. 3, Malai Malar (33 lakh) at No. 4, and Dinamani (26 lakh) at No. 5.

Among Telugu dailies, Eenadu is in the leadership position with a total readership of 147 lakh, an increase from 142 lakh in IRS 2007 R2. Vartha follows with 66 lakh, Andhra Jyothi with 63 lakh, Andhra Bhoomi with 17 lakh, and Andhra Prabha with 7 lakh.

The Media Research Users’ Council (MRUC) has released the data for the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2008 Round 1. There aren’t any surprises in the numbers this time as well.

The top 10 Hindi dailies see Dainik Jagran topping the charts again with a total readership of 566 lakh. Dainik Bhaskar follows with a total readership of 319 lakh. Amar Ujala is at No. 3 with a total readership of 296 lakh; Hindustan is on the fourth spot with a total readership of 252 lakh, and Rajasthan Patrika is at No. 5 with a total readership of 137 lakh.

Punjab Kesari, with a total readership of 111 lakh, is in the sixth position, followed by Aj at No. 7 with a total readership of 74 lakh. Navbharat Times shares the eighth position with Navabharat (Mah/Chh), both having a total readership of 52 lakh. Prabhat Khabar is at No. 10 with a total readership of 50 lakh.

The top 10 English dailies see The Times of India lead the charge with a total readership of 136 lakh for all its editions put together. The Hindustan Times follows with a readership of 63 lakh. The Hindu with a total readership of 56 lakh is at No. 3. The Economic Times is the only financial daily to have made it to the top English dailies list with a total readership figure of 20 lakh. It shares the fourth position with The New Indian Express, which too has a total readership figure of 20 lakh. Mid-Day follows at No 6 with a readership of 18 lakh, Mumbai Mirror at No. 7 with a readership of 16 lakh, and DNA at No. 8 with a total readership of 13 lakh.