The reach of the print media has increased by 12 per cent, from 179 million to 200 million readers, in the last three years. Dailies have driven the growth in print with their reach increasing from 23 per cent to 24 per cent among those who are of 15 years of age and above.
But, magazine reach has declined from 13 per cent to 10 per cent over the last three years. This is the key finding of the National Readership Study 2005, released today.
The reach of satellite TV during this period has gone up by more than 40 per cent. In 2002, 134 million individuals were watching satellite TV on an average every week.
The number has gone up to 190 million in 2005. The number of homes with access to satellite TV jumped from 40 million in 2002 to 61 million in 2005. Satellite subscription has now penetrated 56 per cent of all TV homes.
Despite this, the time spent reading has gone up significantly, from 30 minutes daily on an average to 39 minutes per day over the last three years. Reading time in urban India has gone up from 32 to 42 minutes daily, while in rural India, it has gone up from 27 to 35 minutes daily.
The print media has increased its share of the day at the expense of TV, accounting for 30 per cent of time spent compared with 24 per cent three years ago. Of the top ten dailies across the country, nine are vernacular newspapers with Dainik Jagran taking the top slot, closely followed by Dainik Bhaskar.
The only English daily among the top ten is Times of India, placed 9th. Among the magazines, nine of the top ten slots are occupied by vernacular publications. The only English magazine on the list is India Today in the 3rd position.
Radio reach has stagnated with 23 per cent of the population listening to any station in an average week. The radio has performed relatively better in urban India mainly because of FM channels, with reach increasing to 23 per cent from 20 per cent three years ago.
In rural areas, however, radio reach has dropped to 23 per cent from 25 per cent three years back. Of the 200 million readers, as many as 98 million are from rural India while 101 million are from urban India.
The survey attributes the increased reach to a rise in the literacy level. Literacy has risen from 55.6 per cent to 64.6 per cent in rural areas, and from 79.3 per cent to 84.5 per cent in urban India.
But, the reach of the print medium in urban areas has fallen from 48 per cent to 46 per cent. The reach in rural India has risen from 17 per cent to 19 per cent, though on a larger population base.
The study is the largest survey of its kind in the world, with a sample size of over 2,61,212 houses. The study covers 522 publications, including 221 dailies and 301 magazines.
