One survey vindicates another ? Hindi language dailies continue to dominate the Indian newspaper market. And English dailies barely figure in the elite top tens. Dainik Jagran, with a readership base of 1,91,74,000, is the most read newspaper in the country. Dainik Bhaskar comes second with with 1,50,92,000.
These are the findings just released by the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Round II, and are more or less in tune with the findings of the National Readership Survey (NRS) Round II which were released almost three months back.
Both the top two newspapers have clocked healthy growths ? Dainik Jagran gew 9.14 per cent and Dainik Bhaskar 9.42 per cent over the previous IRS. The top five rankings, in fact, have not changed since the last time.
Daily Thanthi is third placed with a readership of 1,05,58,000. Amar Ujala with 98,45,000 is fourth slot and Malayala Manorama next with 94,26,000. The next four positions are taken by Hindustan(89,97,000), Lokmat (88,72,000), Eenadu (87,75,000), and Mathrubhumi (80,42,000). Hindustan and Eenadu have interchanged positions, Lokmat retains its slot, Significantly, The Times of India, with a readership of 7,287,000, is tenth ? the only English language newspaper in the top ten bracket.
Saras Salil is number one among magazines with a readership of 73.66 lakh. The number two here ? Malayalam fortnightly Vanitha ? is a distant second with 39.95 lakh. Its readership has slumped by 2.72 lakh since the previous IRS round. Close on its heels is India Today (English) with a readership of 38.99 lakh.
Tamil weekly Kumudam has jumped to the fourth position (from being number nine in the previous round), with a readership of 34.34 lakh and an impressive growth of 26 per cent. Hindi monthly Grihashobha too has moved up one notch to the fifth position with readership of 33.7 lakh.
India Today (Hindi) has dropped by one slot to the sixth with a readership of 32.83 lakh. Malayala Manorama's fortunes have declined rather drastically ? its readership has dipped by 27 per cent from the previous round to touch 32.07 lakh. Its rankings too have fallen from third to seventh.
Next placed are Malayalam weekly Balarama’ with 30.65 lakh, and Hindi monthly Pratiyogita Darpan with 26.53 lakh. Monthly Reader’s Digest is the only other English magazine in the top ten with a readership of 26.37 lakh and a growth of 11 per cent.
