IRS 2009 R1: TV viewership of DD declines; Zee Cinema sees maximum jump

In an attempt to go beyond the analysis of topline data, exchange4media.com, in association with media analysis firm Stratagem Media, presents IRS 2009 R1 INSIGHT. Today’s Insight focuses on the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu markets. Reported by Cassandra Serpes. Data analysis by Stratagem Media.

Background

The food in Andhra Pradesh is supposed to be really hot! And of late, that’s how the media scene there looks too. A Telugu newspaper was launched recently, and the leading English newspaper of the state, which was almost state-centric, decided to spread its wings (admittedly, this began almost four years ago). And somewhere along the line, the old lady of Bori Bunder had also made an attempt to establish fort in Hyderabad.

So, what’s the current position and how has it changed in the recent past? Can it still be refered to as a monopolistic market situation? Or do advertisers have to stretch to derive the same values as not so long ago? This article jointly examines the performance of English and Telugu dailies in the Andhra market.

Tamil Nadu is the hotbed of Indian politics, well-known for a change in governance in every State Election. Whether it is Rajnikant or Karunanidhi, everything in Tamil Nadu is king-size.

The largest southern state with an adult (12 years plus) population of 5.8 crore, scores with 11 dailies in the two main languages in the IRS – five English and six Tamil dailies. Tamil dailies account for 13 million regular readers (AIR), while English dailies contribute with almost 1.5 million. That the state is, therefore, highly ‘language-chauvinistic’ is quite obvious, with the local language readers outnumbering English readers by nearly nine times.

Scope & Methodology

Today’s feature of ‘IRS 2009 R1 Insight’ compares the lead players in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu across demographics.

With an adult population of 6.5 crore, including 1.9 crore in the urban parts of the state, Andhra Pradesh can boast of at least 12 dailies covered in the IRS – seven English (including three financial dailies) and five Telugu. The state language readership (AIR) touches almost a crore, whilst the corresponding English language figure is at just about 1.24 million.

The state also seems to hold the distinction of housing dailies with the maximum number of editions in a single state. The pack is led by Eenadu with 18 editions, and even the third largest daily – Vaartha – has 12 editions in the IRS. This article compares thee English dailies and four Telugu dailies.

Nearly three out of every five Tamil readers reads Daily Thanthi (which grosses almost 7.5 million regular readers singularly). But other titles such as Dinakaran (with more than 5 million) and Dinamalar (with more than 3 million) also pitch in to raise the net readership to 13 million. This also points to a fairly high duplication between these titles.

Sightings – The Andhra Pradesh Market:

Telugu dailies in Andhra Pradesh

The top three Telugu dailies have all shown a decline in their Average Issue Readership (AIR) figures. Eenadu has an AIR of 6,415,000, which is a 4.3 per cent decline as compared to the figures in IRS 2008 R2. Andhra Jyothi has declined by 9.7 per cent with an AIR of 2,563,000. Vartha has dropped by 16.8 per cent and now stands at 1,935,000.

English dailies in Andhra Pradesh

Deccan Chronicle is the highest read English newspaper in Andhra Pradesh, even though it has seen a decline of 1.7 per cent and now stands at an AIR of 808,000. The Hindu has seen a growth of 2.7 per cent with an AIR of 384,000. The Times of India’s AIR figures remain unchanged at 192,000 over the previous round.

Sightings – The Tamil Nadu market:

Tamil dailies in Tamil Nadu

Among the Tamil dailies, it must be observed that there is a decline among all the top five publications, in an ascending manner. Daily Thanthi is the most read publication in the state with an AIR of 7,488,000, which is a 1.3 per cent decline in its readership. Dinakaran has seen a decline of 2.6 per cent in its AIR and now stands at 5,394,000. Dinamalar is at 3,273,000, which is a 4.4 per cent decline in its AIR. Dinamani, too, has seen a 6.3 per cent decline with an AIR of 646,000. Malai Malar has seen the maximum decline of 11.7 per cent and currently stands at an AIR of 637,000.

English dailies in Tamil Nadu

Among the English dailies in the state, The Hindu stands tall with an AIR of 1,165,000, which is a 1.7 per cent increase as compared to IRS 2008 R2 figures. Deccan Chronicle has decreased by 14 per cent and now stands at an AIR of 282,000. The New Indian Express has also dropped by 7.6 per cent with an AIR of 146,000. The Economic Times has shown a huge growth of 74.2 per cent in its AIR figures, which is the highest growth seen among the top five English dailies. The publication has grown from 31,000 in 2008 R2 to 54,000 in this round. Hindu Business Line has also shown a growth of 11.5 per cent and now stands at an AIR of 29,000.

Key Insights:

The Andhra market

The state is certainly language-centric. English readership comes a poor second to Telugu readership. The largest Telugu daily, Eenadu, singularly delivers almost 10 per cent of the market as a whole. The third largest Telugu daily, Vaartha, reaches over 50 per cent more audiences than the entire English readership.

Deccan Chronicle (DC), the largest read English daily in the state, comes in at No. 4, but with just one-seventh the readership of Eenadu. TOI finds its way into the top seven just behind The Hindu, which despite having a strong presence in Tamil Nadu, manages to still score over the TOI in AP, with twice the number of readers.

In urban AP, DC replaces Vaartha at No. 3. Eenadu’s lead over Andhra Jyoti increases in urban AP, while The Hindu continues to be twice as large as TOI, whilst DC is seen to be more twice as large as The Hindu.

In SEC A, Eenadu increases its lead over its Telugu rivals, but the English papers narrow the gap. In this segment, Eenadu leads by about 125 per cent over DC, versus a lead of 350 per cent in urban AP.

Despite being the largest Telugu daily, Eeandu is seen to be more urban than the other Telugu dailies in the state. Whilst the English dailies get more than 90 per cent of their readers from the urban parts of AP.

TOI shows a marginally better SEC profile than the other English dailies, and this advantage increases for the MHI Rs 10K plus segment. The Rs 10K plus MHI profile of the other dailies is quite similar to their SEC profiles.

All seven dailies under consideration in AP, except TOI, seem to have declined in readership – by a margin of 2 per cent (DC) to 22 per cent (The Hindu). The TOI has gained 3 per cent.

The decline in readership in the SEC A segment is much more, and ranges from 1 per cent to 38 per cent.

The Tamil Market

The top three positions are occupied by Daily Thanthi (DT), Dinakaran and Dinamalar. Coincidentally, there’s a steady drop of 28 per cent in reach, from the No. 1 position, at each step, till the No. 4. The fourth position is occupied by an English newspaper - The Hindu. So, in the state as a whole, The Hindu reaches 84 per cent less readers than Daily Thanthi.

Surprisingly enough, in the urban part of the state, the rankings amongst the top four remain unchanged, but so does the extent of the drop, with each rank dropping by about 26 per cent. So, in urban Tamil Nadu, the Hindu reaches about 24 per cent of the readers that Daily Thanthi captures.

But things go absolutely topsy-turvy in SEC A. The Hindu, which trails by as much as 76 per cent in urban TN at No. 4 position, leads the pack with a 31 per cent lead over DT in SEC A.

Both Dinamalar and Dinakaran narrow their gap vis-à-vis DT in SEC A, with Dinamalar being the stronger among the two. So, in SEC A, Dinamalar ranks No. 2 amongst Tamil dailies and No. 3 overall.

The other English newspaper in TN – Deccan Chronicle (DC), is about one-fourth the size of The Hindu, even in urban TN, and less than one-sixth its size in SEC A.

Amongst the five Tamil papers under consideration, the smallest two (Malai Malar and Dinamani) have the best urban profile.

Dinamalar and Dinamani also have the best affluence (SEC A & MHI Rs 10K plus) profile, amongst Tamil dailies. In terms of affluence profile, however, (and expectedly so), The Hindu leads the pack by a wide margin. Nearly half the readers of The Hindu fall into SEC A.

All dailies under consideration, except The Hindu, seem to have lost readers, by margins ranging from a modest 1 per cent (for Daily Thanthi) to 14 per cent (for DC).

However, quite to the contrary, the top three Tamil papers have gained readers in the key SEC segments, by margins ranging from 3 per cent (for Dinamalar) to 21 per cent (for DT). The decline for the other Tamil papers like Dinamani, etc., and DC occurs even in the key SEC segments. The Hindu, on the other hand seems to have grown across segments as well.

(Led by Sundeep Nagpal, Stratagem Media Pvt Ltd is an independent media specialist company which provides media buying services to advertisers and ad sales support to leading media houses. For the latter, its range of services includes data analytics, sales/ behavioural training and price structuring.)

In an attempt to go beyond the analysis of topline data, exchange4media.com, in association with media analysis firm Stratagem Media, presents IRS 2009 R1 INSIGHT. Today’s Insight focuses on the Maharashtra and Gujarat markets. Reported by Cassandra Serpes. Data analysis by Stratagem Media.

Background:

As the largest market in the country, Maharashtra can certainly present challenges to marketers/ media practitioners. Save Mumbai, the rest of the state is predominantly Marathi speaking. This article examines the Marathi print sector and attempts to demolish a myth or two, providing answers to questions like “Is Urban Maharashtra saturated? Where is the growth coming from and who’s making the moves?” or “Which is the third largest read Marathi paper? Could it be Loksatta, or MT or Sakaal or some other?” or “Can the top 2 or 3 dailies provide adequate coverage in the state?”

On the other hand, the high profile Gujarat market witnessed some action in the print media sector for the few years after the launch of Divya Bhaskar. About two years ago, the TOI Group bought a stake in the Sandesh newspaper group – whose flagship was Sandesh, the third largest daily in the state. This part of our feature is about Gujarati dailies, and attempts to explore anything that’s different among the three papers.

Scope & Methodology

Today’s feature of ‘IRS 2009 R1 Insight’ compares the lead players in Maharashtra across demographics, as well as in Gujarat.

To put it in perspective, there are as many as 18 newspaper titles in Marathi that account for a readership (AIR) of 17.5 million, with the top 2 players accounting for almost 10 million readers. And hence, the cut-off for inclusion in this article has been fixed at 1 million readers, which results in the inclusion of six dailies.

In the case of the Gujarat market, as per IRS 2009 R1, there are as many as eight newspaper titles in Gujarati that account for a readership (AIR) of 10.5 million, with the top 2 players accounting for almost 7 million readers. And hence, the cut-off for inclusion in this article has been fixed at 3 million readers, which results in the inclusion of three dailies.

Sightings – Maharashtra Market:

In the Maharashtra market, we see that most of the publications have seen a growth in readership. Lokmat leads this market with an AIR of 6,789,000, which is a 2 per cent growth as compared to the last round. Daily Sakal has also seen a growth from an AIR of 3,858,000 in IRS 2008 R2 to 3,876,000 in this round. Punya Nagari has seen a 9 per cent growth in its AIR figures, which now stands at 2,423,000, while Pudhari has seen a 10 per cent growth in its AIR figures, which is now at 2,148,000. Loksatta, Maharashtra Times and Deshonatti have seen a 1 per cent, 3 per cent and 5 per cent drop in their AIR figures, respectively. Navakal has risen by 7 per cent with an AIR of 757,000.

Sightings - Gujarat market:

In the Gujarat market, Gujarat Samachar leads with an AIR of 4,762,000, which is a 0.8 per cent increase over last round’s figures. Divya Bhaskar is the second largest publication in the region with an AIR of 3,434,000. However, the publication has seen a 3.8 per cent decline in its figures. Sandesh stands with an AIR of 3,391,000, which is a 5 per cent decline, while Saurashtra Samachar has seen a 1.8 per cent growth in its AIR figures, which now stands at 280,000. Gujarat Mitra and Darpan have seen the maximum decline of 8.9 per cent in its AIR, which now stand at 216,000.

In Maharashtra, the publications have done fairly well. Speaking on Lokmat being the No. 1 publication in Maharashtra, Jwalant Swaroop, Director – Advertising & Business Development, said that it was the focus on the smaller regions along with intelligent content and understanding the needs of the people which had led Lokmat to its position.

Swaroop added, “Maharashtra is one of the largest states in the country. Earlier, when Maharashtra was spoken about, there was a huge focus on Mumbai. Other cities were not being focused as much, not even growing cities like Pune. We at Lokmat created a readership across segments, because these markets were important, and now, these markets have transformed. We have been performing and delivering sales in these regions.”

He further said, “We have focused a lot on these markets and have become a relevant media vehicle in the region. This is due to a number of factors like the good industrial climate and agricultural income, among others. Also, targeting the various sectors have brought in more customers, which is all because of the education in these regions.”

Sanjeev Kotnala, Associate VP and National Head – Communications, Dainik Bhaskar Group, said, “We are at this strong position because we have remained focused with the readers. We do not consider ourselves as No. 2. After all, we are the only true contemporary paper to have retained the ethos of the Gujarati culture, and yet are urban, be it in our approach or the layout, it has always been reader friendly and contemporary. The paper has a connect with the readers and the constant product development makes it the best paper.”

Key Insights:

The Maharashtra market:

Reach (AIR) – Key Demographics (Urban+Rural)

As per the analysis, the wild card entry at No. 3 is Punya Nagari (PN), with more than 24 lakh readers. But Lokmat at No. 1 is larger than the next two put together (that is, Sakal and PN).

Reach (AIR) – Key Demographics (Urban)

Interestingly, the equation changes in urban Maharashtra. While the top 3 remain the same, the order of the next three gets reversed. In the urban order, Maharashtra Times (MT) is at No. 4, followed by Loksatta and Pudhari. Also, the lead that PN enjoyed over MT in the state as a whole, now narrows down to just a whisker in urban Maharashtra.

Reach (AIR) – Key Demographics (Age Group)

In the 30+ age-group, (which would be relevant for some product categories), Pudhari overtakes Punya Nagari, while MT overtakes Loksatta.

Reach (AIR) – Key Demographics (Socio-economic Class)

Even glimpse of the urban reach graph versus the SEC reach graph is enough to raise eyebrows. Although Loksatta and MT feature marginally (and relatively) better than PN and Pudhari in the urban graph, their reach shoots up considerably in SEC A. Loksatta increases its originally wafer-thin margin over MT, in SEC A, and ranks No. 3. Sakal narrows its gap versus Lokmat in this segment.

Urban/ Rural Profile

PN and Pudhari show a high contribution of readers from rural Maharashtra. And the ratio is almost exactly reversed in case of Lokmat and Sakal, whereas MT and Loksatta have the lowest concentration of rural readership.

SEC Profile

These ‘rural-heavy’ papers naturally show a very low contribution (less than 5 per cent) of SEC A readers, whereas the converse is true for the Mumbai-based papers – MT and Loksatta.

MHI Profile

The data also shows that there is a remarkable difference in the contribution of the highest MHI category to these papers. Thirty-four per cent of Loksatta readers and 27 per cent of MT readers belong to the MHI of Rs 10K plus.

Change in Readership (Over IRS 2008 R2) – All

The rural-heavy papers seem to have grown by leaps and bounds, in the six months since the last round of survey (that is, over IRS 2008 R2), whilst the “most urban” papers seem to have declined.

Change in Readership (Over IRS 2008 R2) – Age Group & Socio Economic Class

Punya Nagari’s growth in the 20-39 segment is almost twice as much as its overall growth, and in this segment, Loksatta also seems to have grown by a stupendous margin. As against an overall growth of 10 per cent, Pudhari seems to have grown by 31 per cent in SEC A, over the last six months.

The Gujarat market:

Reach (AIR) Key Demographics – (Urban + Rural)

According to the IRS, Gujarat Samachar (GS) leads Divya Bhaskar (DB) by almost 40 per cent in terms of total readership, whereas Sandesh lags behind very marginally by just about 1 per cent.

Reach (AIR) Key Demographics – (Urban)

The ratios, however, change significantly in urban Gujarat. While the order remains the same, DB catches up a little bit and Sandesh falls behind considerably.

Reach (AIR) Key Demographics – (Socio Economic Class)

Urban/ Rural Profile

The urban profile of DB is superior to that of GS or Sandesh, but it does not translate to an advantage in terms of SEC (which is an urban parameter).

SEC and MHI Profile

Sandesh lags behind the other two in terms of contribution of SEC A readers as well as from the MHI Rs 10K plus segment.

Change in Readership (Over IRS 2008 R2)

Among the three dailies under consideration, GS is the only one that is seen to have grown, but that too very marginally (0.8 per cent) over the last round of the IRS 2008. The other two have lost readers by a few points. On the other hand, Divya Bhaskar shows a stupendous growth (of 26 per cent) in the SEC A segment.

(Led by Sundeep Nagpal, Stratagem Media Pvt Ltd is an independent media specialist company which provides media buying services to advertisers and ad sales support to leading media houses. For the latter, its range of services includes data analytics, sales/ behavioural training and price structuring.)

In an attempt to go beyond the analysis of topline data, exchange4media.com in association with media analysis firm Stratagem Media presents IRS 2009 R1 INSIGHT. Today's Insight focuses on the Hindi Belt dailies. Reported by Cassandra Serpes. Data analysis by Stratagem Media.

Background:

National advertisers generally consider the Hindi belt to be one market, given the homogeneity of language and culture. But from the media point of view, is the market homogenous? Has the desire to dominate the largest audience in the country, led to some degree of media heterogeneity/ segmentation? How has the historical supremacy of different players over different geographies translated into their current position in this vast market, which represents nearly half (47 per cent) of the country’s adult population?

Scope and Methodology:

Today’s feature of ‘IRS 2009 R1 Insight’, compares lead players in the Hindi Belt, across demographics.

The composition of the Hindi belt includes Delhi, Punjab/ Haryana/ Chandigarh/ Himachal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh/ Uttaranchal, Bihar/ Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There are as many as 14 titles, each with multiple editions, across various states in the Hindi belt. In order not to make it unwieldy, this analysis has been restricted to the top seven players. Over the last few years, most of these dailies began spreading out in different directions, and hence, by now, the contest has gone beyond mere territorial supremacy.

So, while some difference in quantum of readerships can be expected, let’s examine the quality of readership amongst the top seven players as well as the change in their readerships over the last IRS (2008 R2).

IRS 2009 R1 Topline AIR results for Hindi Belt news dailies

Sighting - Hindi dailies in Delhi:

Navbharat Times leads the Hindi dailies market with an AIR of 1,568,000, which is a 1.9 per cent growth from its last round figures. Hindustan has seen a 14.3 per cent growth in the Delhi market with an AIR of 1,262,000. Punjab Kesari stands third in the market with an AIR of 770,000, which is a 5. 8 per cent growth, while Dainik Jagran has seen a 6.2 per cent increase with an AIR of 615,000. Amar Ujala has seen a 5.1 per cent growth with an AIR of 103,000.

Sighting – Hindi Dailies in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and

Himachal Pradesh:

Sighting – Hindi Dailies in UP/ Uttaranchal:

Dainik Jagran leads this market with an AIR of 9,470,000 despite a decline of 2.9 per cent. Amar Ujala also has seen a drop of 2.5 per cent with an AIR of 6,819,000. Hindustan is the only daily among the top five that has seen a 4.4 per cent growth in its AIR figures, which stand at 2,290,000. Aj has declined by 8.2 per cent with an AIR of 752,000, while Rashtriya Sahara has dropped by 9 per cent and has an AIR of 563,000.

Sighting – Hindi Dailies in Madhya Pradesh:

Dainik Bhaskar, although at the top, has seen a drop of 2.1 per cent in its AIR figures, which currently stand at 3,059,000. While most of the publications have seen a dip in numbers, Nai Dunia has seen a huge growth of 21.1 per cent with an AIR of 928,000. Nava Bharat has seen a decline of 1 per cent, while Raj Express has seen a decline of 0.8 per cent with an AIR of 517,000 and 486,000, respectively. Dainik Jagarn is another Hindi daily in this market that has seen a 5.8 per cent growth with an AIR of 458,000.

Sighting – Hindi Dailies in Chattisgarh:

Dainik Bhaskar, the No. 1 player in this market, has seen a 7 per cent drop in its AIR to 1,021,000. Hari Bhoomi, on the other hand, has shown a 6.1 per cent growth with an AIR of 771,000. Nava Bharat has seen a 7.9 per cent drop and has an AIR of 687,000, while Desh Bandhu has dropped 17.6 per cent to an AIR of 56,000. Nai Dunia has registered an AIR of 299,000.

Sighting – Hindi Dailies in Bihar/ Jharkhand:

Hindustan is the market leader here with an AIR of 5,589,000. However, the publication has seen a 3.3 per cent drop as compared to IRS 2008 R2. Dainik Jagaran is the No. 2 daily with an AIR of 3,204,000, a 5 per cent drop. Prabhat Khabar, with an AIR of 1,167,000, has seen a marginal rise of 0.2 per cent. AJ, on the other hand, has seen a steep decline of 25.3 per cent with an AIR of 337,000.

Sighting – Hindi Dailies in Rajasthan:

Rajasthan Patrika still leads in this market with an AIR of 6,538,000. Dainik Bhaskar is next with an AIR of 5,736,000, which is a 1.5 per cent decline. Dainik Navjyoti has an AIR of 402,000, which is a 0.2 per cent growth, while News Today has seen a 30.8 per cent increase in its AIR to 225,000. Daily News has dropped by 5.4 per cent with an AIR of 193,000.

With these figures it is observed that the decline trend, which was seen in the last round (IRS 2008 R2) continues, however, this does not seem to concern the bigger publications, who are not only the market leaders in the Hindi belt, but are also national market leaders.

Sanjeev Kotnala, Associate VP and National Head of Communications, Dainik Bhaskar Group, asserted that the decline was no huge worry for the group. “We have seen an overall decline of just 0.94 per cent, which is no worry to us at all. What is important is that we are one of the market leaders,” he said, adding, “We are the No. 1 paper in most markets and in markets like Rajasthan, where we stand second, we are still the No. 1 paper among the urban cities.”

Despite a number of publications showing decline, there have been a few that have shown growth. Nai Dunia is one that has shown the maximum growth. Vineet Sethia, Director, NaiDunia Media, said, “We are happy with the positive growth that Nai Dunia has registered. This is a result of our painstaking effort that we took in the last one year to improve our product by undertaking a circulation drive and revamping the newspaper in terms of editorial content, looks and making it more interactive. It is encouraging to see that NaiDunia could record a positive growth, especially when most of the top Hindi dailies have seen a drop in readership. We wish the growth continues with our Delhi NCR edition and NavDunia, Bhopal adding up to the readership in the forthcoming rounds.”

Giving insights to the growth and decline in the Hindi Belt, Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison Media, said that it all depended on the various parameters that one saw as increase or decline. “We see a declining trend simply because it is clear that the younger age-group, which is a large population, is not reading. This is evident by the numbers shown in the IRS. This could possibly be because of the new media coming in, and the cover prices going up. Also, what is important is the cover price mating with the number of pages. Circulation, too, plays an important role. If circulation falls, readership is bound to fall,” she added.

Key Findings:

Very minor variations in rank across demographics are seen. Dainik Bhaskar (DB) lags behind Dainik Jagran (DJ) by 21 per cent in terms of total (U+R) readership, but in the urban part of the Hindi belt, this difference narrows down to just 4 per cent. Punjab Kesari and Navbharat Times (which is predominantly read in Delhi) also close the gap versus their immediate competitors in the urban parts of this market.

In SEC A, DJ’s lead increases marginally over DB and Amar Ujjala (AU), and substantially over Rajasthan Patrika (RP).

In terms of total readership, NbT has shown a significant growth of 4.1 per cent, whereas Hindustan has grown marginally by 0.8 per cent over the last IRS (2008 R2). DJ is seen to have declined by the largest margin of 2.8 per cent.

Amongst these top seven dailies, all except RP are seen to have grown in readership in the most affluent audience of SEC A. The highest gain has been for Hindustan (7.4 per cent), followed by DB with 4.7 per cent. On the other hand, RP has declined by 9.2 per cent.

(Led by Sundeep Nagpal, Stratagem Media Pvt Ltd is an independent media specialist company which provides media buying services to advertisers and ad sales support to leading media houses. For the latter, its range of services includes data analytics, sales / behavioural training and price structuring.)

The IRS 2009 R1 data has the FM radio industry by and large fuming as some see their station leading in a particular city where they are not even present. This has led to most FM players saying that they preferred Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) over IRS for the former’s accuracy and in places where RAM is not present, some of them commissioned their own research.

Radio Mirchi, which as per the IRS 2009 R1 data is shown leading the FM space across India, understandably follows the IRS data as compared to RAM data.

All for RAM

According to Anand Chakravarthy, Senior VP – Marketing, Big FM, “IRS is not designed to measure radio listenership. There are a lot of issues currently with the data and we are hoping that the IRS comes out with a cleaner data. In cities outside of RAM’s purview, we have our own dipstick studies, which are customised to measure radio listenership. Nevertheless, IRS data are indicative in nature and we do not design our product based on IRS.”

He further said, “Perhaps, IRS data could, to some extent, influence advertisers and media planners and perhaps lead to confusion, nevertheless, we do believe that media planners and advertisers prefer RAM over IRS as it is far more accurate and we do hope that even the advertisers realise that there are problems in the IRS and, therefore, not use it as an absolute yardstick to measure radio listenership.”

On similar lines, Neeraj Chaturvedi, National Marketing and Promotions Head, Fever FM, said, “We do not follow the IRS simply because it has the same flaws that ILT had as it is all recall based data, which is unrealiable and works for brands that have high heritage and not necessarily for brands, which are doing well and have high listenership.”

“I think all advertisers know that the best system we have is RAM. The basic issue with ILT was with its methodology, and even the IRS has the same flaw. Therefore, I don’t think that should create any confusion among advertisers,” he added.

Harrish M Bhatia, VP - Northern Region, AROI, and COO, My FM (Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd), noted, “Judging ourselves or the industry on the basis of the IRS would be a foolish step on our part. It would be more worthwhile if the radio industry as a whole can agree to decide on a measurement system more closely rooted in reality.”

He continued, “The IRS results may create some confusion, but advertisers and media planners will probably not be too affected by it since they are prudent and will also see the discrepancies in the data. Furthermore, their entire planning cannot be based on one set of figures reported by one research and they will obviously look at other parameters like content, programming, popularity, reach etc. before making critical decisions.”

The Veto

On a different take, Sujata Bhatt, EVP, Marketing and Strategy, ENIL (Radio Mirchi), explained, “We believe that the IRS is a better reflection of the measurement of radio listenership. The RAM sample size is restricted to around 500 people, whereas the sample size of IRS is around 7,000. Therefore, the results of IRS would be more robust simply because it is a representation of a larger and more heterogeneous set of listeners. The methodology used by RAM is the Diary method. It is a well known fact that this methodology has some inherent flaws. When a respondent “ticks” against a radio channel in the Diary, he/she is expected to do so as soon as the listening takes place. In reality, respondents tend to fill up diaries towards the end of the week – when they are to be picked up by the research agency. This leads to diaries being reflective of “recall” of a station rather than its actual ‘listenership’.”

She further said, “Therefore, as a planning tool, IRS is better placed than RAM simply because it is a better reflection of the listenership of a radio station and gives an advertiser data which has been sourced by a more accurate/ robust methodology. We are very happy with the IRS results. They are very much on expected lines. We think the results are quite accurate and are a true reflection of listenership. For example, we have always maintained that Radio Mirchi is the most preferred radio station in Mumbai. This has been clearly demonstrated in these results, which put us at a 20 per cent lead over the next competition.”

From media agency point of view

When asked whether advertisers and media planners followed the IRS, Sandeep Lakhina, COO, Starcom Worldwide, South Asia, said, “RAM is certainly more preferable for us in the four metros where RAM is present, nevertheless wherever RAM is not available, then IRS is the only credible measurement system that we have. Therefore, I believe RAM has a responsibility to broaden its footprint to more number of cities as IRS is not specifically designed for radio and this is the current challenge that we have, but given the fact that there is no other alternative, then we have to work with this.”

The Bangalore market is booming with the launch of new dailies and the existing players revamping their offering. exchange4media brings a detailed analysis in association with Stratagem Media.

The Indian Readership Study (IRS) is currently the only regular readership survey that is carried out in the country. And like any major media survey, it is basically used to look at the purchase and sale of media space and media time, just like a TV Audience Measurement (TAM) or any other readership measurement or outdoor measurement. This is very basic information for the industry and it is information like this that helps the industry become a lot more organised and also helps the industry grow.

Essentially, for any medium to grow, it should be something that interests both buyer and seller. And therefore, it should be from a third party that both can rely on. Once there is something like this kind of currency or exchange and trust that is formed, only then will that material or commodity or product start to grow. There are many other things as well, for example, a publication knows where they are growing, not only on the broader aspects, but also on the smaller aspects like which place or which city, and then they know exactly where they stand, where they have fallen, where they need to do better, etc. They can see if the steps they have taken in the last six months or a year have been helpful or not and accordingly re-look their strategies.

The IRS also covers information on a lot of products, which help marketers define the target segment. The data also makes them aware of how many people are using their product, what kind of products do better in which market, which will help them in their future marketing and planning strategies.

In India, in general, media is slowly growing. However, when it comes specifically to the print media, there is a long term trend that the younger generation is taking a little less to print as compared to that in the past, possibly because they have so many more other avenues of news and entertainment. Today, there is a lot more demand on the time of people, a lot more mediums are out there competing for people’s attention – be it TV, the Internet, radio or even sports, and this has resulted in a little less adoption of the print media, especially by the younger people.

Magazines have seen a slightly higher decline among the print media. This is because dailies are a more habit-based thing, while magazines are more towards the liking and interest in certain things. Plus the information that one sees in magazines is available everywhere. There are so many supplements these days, which carry articles that a magazine would carry. Moving away from print, there are also a lot of specialist channels these days doing and showing what magazines used to do earlier.

However, even though there is decline in dailies and a higher decline in magazines, there is no doubt that overall, publications are growing.

(As told to Cassandra Serpes.)