IRS data and the war of words...

The Indian Readership Survey number fiasco has taken the ugly route with allegations and cross allegations being made from a few leading publications over the weekend.

It may be recollected that the IRS data has been re-validated following complaints from various publishers. Considering the festive season, while many have taken these numbers into use, some large players who seem to have been unaffected by these numbers, look to be caught up in a war of words.

On saturday morning with the Times of India advertisement that read ‘The Truth shall prevail. Specially at 6am.’ The ad further read ‘You may have read some claims and counter claims about readership and circulation of English dailies in Delhi and NCR. But the truth simply is: for the ‘regular’ copies of the TOI and HT (i.e. fully loaded copies that carry supplements and are listed in ABC as single or combo) TOI is 38% ahead of HT. The ad further invited readers to get a firsthand experience of the newspaper’s leadership by taking up the Times of India challenge, by contacting the TOI and visiting a newspaper depot.

While on the receiving end, Hindustan Times did not refrain from voicing their take on the same. Senior officials from the publication have mentioned that protesting to industry bodies, then trying to form a coalition and then questioning the validation process as well, use of unfair power politics are all indication of nervous reactions and that TOI shall consider industry norms and results and abide by it.

While many say this war of words isn't easy to put rest to, only time will tell what repercussions will the controversial IRS data have on both – large and medium/small publishers.