IRS Q2: Top newspapers post growth

IRS Q2: Top newspapers post growth

Dainik Jagran

MUMBAI: Dainik Jagran and The Times of India are holding on to their top spots as the most read publications in the Hindi and English language dailies respectively, according to the IRS (Indian Readership Survey) second-quarter report released by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research.

Among the Hindi dailies, Dainik Jagran’s average issue readership (AIR), which had seen a drop in the previous survey, has gone up.

The top four players have seen surge in AIR, while Rajasthan Patrika and Punjab Kesari have seen marginal fall.

Dainik Jagran’s AIR has risen in Q2 to 16.39 million, from 15.91 million in the trailing quarter. Dainik Bhaskar (AIR of 14.17 million), Hindustan (11.98 million) and Amar Ujala (8.89 million) follow.

Navbharat, which was pushed out of the top 10 Hindi dailies by Hari Bhoomi in previous report, has still not managed to get back.

Among the English dailies, the Times of India continues to hold its numero uno position.

TOI has garnered a total AIR of 7.47 million, slightly higher than the trailing quarter report (7.44 million). It is followed by Hindustan Times (AIR of 3.74 million) which also saw a marginal growth as compared to Q1. The Hindu (AIR of 2.28 million), saw a dip from AIR of 2.09 million in the Q1.

Interestingly, The Economic Times, which was pushed to eighth place behind DNA and Mumbai Mirror in Q1, managed to outnumber Mumbai Mirror. However, it is still behind DNA.

Meanwhile, the pecking order of the regional dailies has remained same as of Q1. Malayalam Manorama has once again topped the chart with 9.96 million AIR, up from 9.94 million in Q1.

The list includes Lokmat (Marathi) (AIR of 7.59 million) and Daily Thanthi (Tamil) with an AIR of 7.29 million.