IRS 2019 Q4: Slow decline in readership across languages

Slow decline in readership across languages
Slow decline in readership across languages

The IRS 2019 Q4 report highlights a rapidly evolving media landscape with multi-media adoption seen across consumer strata. According to the report, while Internet continues its surge and both TV and Radio have been showing growth, Newspaper readership however, is on a slow decline and is a trend seen across Hindi, English and Regional languages.

Slow decline in readership is a trend noticed across languages. In terms of Total Readership (TR), the decline has been marginal for Hindi Dailies Q-on-Q (15.7% in IRS 2019 Q4 Vs 16.3% in IRS 2019 Q3) as well as Regional Dailies (18.4% in IRS 2019 Q4 Vs 18.9% in IRS 2019 Q3). On the other hand, English Dailies saw no change Q-on-Q at 3.1%.

In terms of Average Issue readership (AIR), too, the decline has been marginal. For Hindi Dailies, the AIR in IRS 2019 Q4 stood at 6.0% as against 6.4% in IRS 2019 Q3; while for Regional Dailies, the AIR in IRS 2019 Q4 was reported at 7.8% compared to 7.3% in IRS 2019 Q3. English Dailies reported AIR of 1.1% in IRS 2019 Q4, a tad lower than 1.2% in IRS 2019 Q3.

For Any Dailies at an All India level, the TR was reported at 34.5% in IRS 2019 Q4, compared to 35.7% in IRS 2019 Q3; while AIR was reported at 13.8% as against 14.7% in IRS 2019 Q3.

North Markets

In North, all states except J&K and Himachal Pradesh show a slow decline in readership in terms of both TR and AIR. In NCT Delhi, Any Dailies reported a TR of 44.3% in IRS 2019 Q4, which was lower than 47% reported in IRS 2019 Q3. Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand reported declines too.

West Markets

The story was similar in West as well, with Goa bucking the decline trend in terms of TR. Any Dailies in Goa reported a TR of 56.5% in IRS 2019 Q4 as against 54.2% in IRS 2019 Q3. Any Dailies in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra showed a steady decline in readership.

South Markets

All states have showed a decline in readership, with Kerala and Telangana showing sharper declines in both TR and AIR. While Any Dailies in Kerala reported TR of 83.1% in IRS 2019 Q4 (84.5% in IRS 2019 Q3); Telangana reported TR of 25.6% in IRS 2019 Q4 (30.4% in IRS 2019 Q3).

East Markets

Except Odisha which is steady, all other states in East show a steady decline in readership. However, in IRS 2019 Q4, Jharkhand and West Bengal had seen no change in TR, with Any Dailies in Jharkhand reporting TR of 27%, the same as the previous quarter. Any Dailies in West Bengal reported TR of 25.9%, the same as in IRS 2019 Q3.

Top 10 dailies

All India, among the Top 10 dailies, Daily Thanthi (TR – 26,314,000, No. 6), Lokmat (TR – 22,343,000, No. 7) and The Times of India (TR – 17,344,000, No. 9) are the only ones to see growth. Daily Thanthi (AIR – 7,379,000) and Lokmat (AIR – 6,285,000) have seen growth in Average Issue Readership as well. Placed at No. 2, Dainik Bhaskar has recorded growth in AIR at 15,566,000.

The latest report is based on a Rolling Average of data from 3 quarters – IRS 2019 (Q1), (Q2) and (Q3), and one fresh quarter – Q4 of IRS 2019.

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