Readers and Viewers

The National Readership Survey 2005 has revealed a significant increase in the reach of the press (dailies and magazines) over the last three years with an addition of 21 million readers between 2002 and 2005. It has also found that the number of readers of newspapers and magazines in rural India is now almost equal to those in urban India. In one of the largest surveys of its kind in the world...

Competition can make strange bedfellows. The Times of India and Hindustan Times, bitter rivals in the national capital, have joined hands in Mumbai to take on DNA, the daily expected to be launched by the Essel Group-Dainik Bhaskar combine, in July. The collaboration between two of the country’s biggest media empires – Bennett, Coleman and Co Ltd (publishers of The Times) and Hindustan Times Ltd –...

Several dailies make space for Japanese number puzzle. A number puzzle that has stormed its way into major newspapers, magazines and websites across the US, UK and most of the world, has disembarked on Indian shores via a slew of dailies, including The Hindu, Hindustan Times, Deccan Chronicle and The Asian Age. Originating in Japan in its current form, Sudoku consists of a 9x9 grid, further...

Worldwide newspaper sales edged up by more than two percent in 2004 while advertising revenue recorded significant gains, the World Association of Newspapers said Monday. In its report on trends in the newspaper industry, the WAN said 395 million copies of newspapers were sold daily in 2004 and read by an estimated one billion people worldwide. China, India and Japan were the world's biggest...

"Deccan Chronicle’s claim of having a circulation of 1.45 lakh copies is highly exaggerated and ridiculous. The newspaper may not be selling more than 15,000-20,000 copies," says N Murali, joint managing director, The Hindu. Welcome to battleground Chennai, where the King is in no mood to allow potential usurpers sneaking in. Murali adds, "The publication may be having a print run of as many...

Newspapers go on marketing overdrive to lure readers. Newspaper readers in Mumbai are being pampered like never before. With three major newspapers set for launch in the next few months, the marketing war has reached a feverish pitch. Consider Hindustan Times, which is planning a Mumbai edition shortly. Nearly 50,000 Airtel subscribers in Mumbai will receive a copy of the newspaper free. Sources...

[Over the past month, Crikey has published a steady stream of information from readers and industry insiders about how newspapers and magazines artificially inflate their audited "paid" circulation figures to deceive advertisers who pay for their ads based on the official circulation figures. Today, we explain how they do it.] The stories about circulation rorts began when an anonymous Crikey...

The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) has taken action against some publications and terminated their membership. The publications include some editions of Gujarat Samachar, Sandesh, The Sunday Times of India in Delhi and Gujarat Mitra and Gujarat Darpan in Surat. A circular sent out recently to ABC members mentions that the editions of Gujarat Samachar in Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Surat, Sandesh in...

VIENNA, Va., May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly one in three Internet users (29 percent) read an online newspaper in March 2005, representing a total audience of nearly 44 million people, according to a new report by Nielsen//NetRatings for the Newspaper Association of America. The data, which takes into account both home and work Internet usage, shows a 3.1 percent increase in unique audience in March...

Rivals may be closing in on her, but the grand Old Lady of Boribunder is in no mood to let any claimant having a go at her throne. In the face of impending competition from adversaries looking to launch English newspapers in Mumbai, Bennett, Coleman & Co (BCCL), publishers of The Times of India, is busy strengthening the content of its best-selling product. The beefing up, in fact, is starting...