MUMBAI: According to the Indian Readership Survey for Q4 2012 conducted by Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research, seven out of the top ten dailies (across languages) have lost readership. These include Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, The Times of India, Daily Thanthi, Lokmat and Matrubhumi.

The pecking order of the top ten dailies remains unchanged with Hindi daily Dainik Jagran continuing its reign at the number one spot. The publication saw a reduction in its readership as compared to the third quarter from average issue readership (AIR) number falling from 164.74 million in Q3 to 163.70 million in Q4. Second spot holder Dainik Bhaskar saw a similar fate as its AIR decreased from 144.91 million in Q3 to 144.16 million in Q4.

English dailies seem to be holding ground. In their case, just five of the Top 10 dailies lost readership. The Times of India, The Hindu, Deccan Chronicle, The Economic Times and The New Indian Express. While The Times of India continued to take the top spot, its readership fell from 7.653 million in Q3 to 7.615 million in Q4. The only change in the pecking order of English dailies happened with The Tribune taking ninth place (previously tenth; AIR 671000 for Q4) to replace The New Indian Express (previously ninth; AIR 652000 for Q4).

For the language dailies, the pecking order remained unchanged with Malayalam Manorama retaining the top position and saw an increase in readership from 9.752 million in Q3 to 9.76 million in Q4. Six of the top ten language dailies lost readership with the biggest loser being Dinakaran that lost 96000 AIR (4.912 million in Q3; 4.816 million in Q4).