Dainik Jagran and The Times of India on top slots among the most read Hindi and English dailies: IRS 2017

Being the most read Hindi daily as per the IRS 2007 announced by MRUC, Dainik Jagran boasts a total readership of 7,03,77,000 while The Times of India has 1,30,47,000 total readership. MRUC is a registered not-for-profit industry body incepted in 1994 with a commitment towards producing research studies that help organisations build credible business models. The council produces many firsthand studies that have won the trust of the industry. A few among them are IRS, Indian Outdoor Survey, and Indian Listenership Track.

In the Top 20

Printed newspapers in India are gaining new ground with the circulations of language dailies keep increasing, particularly Hindi and other vernacular publications in the regional domains. With such a new trend there is no doubt of Hindi newspapers surpassing their English counterparts. Next to Dainik Jagran, Hindustan is the most read Hindi daily in the country, beating the total readership of The Times of India.

Hindustan has a total readership of 5,23,97,000 followed by Amar Ujala at third position with total readership of 4,60,94,000. At the fourth position is Dainik Bhaskar with a total readership of 4,51,05,000. In the follow-up, Tamil daily Daily Thanthi holds the fifth position with a total readership of 2,31,49,000 followed by Lokmat at the sixth position with a total readership of 1,80,66,000.

The seventh position in readership is held by Patrika with a total readership of 1,63,26,000 followed by Malayali newspaper Malayala Manorama at the eight position with a total readership of 1,59,95,000. Telugu daily Eenadu with a total readership of 1,58,48,000 is at eighth position while Prabhat Khabar holds the tenth position with a total readership of 1,34,92,000.

In the overall total readership ranking, the number one English daily The Times of India is positioned at the eleventh with a total readership of 1,30,47,000. In the follow-up, Anandabazar Patrika has captured the twelfth position with a total readership of 1,27,63,000 followed by Punjab Kesari at thirteenth position with a total readership of 1,22,32,000. Tamil daily Dinakaran has a total readership of 1,20,83,000 holding the fourteenth position while Malayali newspaper Mathrubhumi is at the fifteenth position with a total readership of 1,18,63,000.

Widely circulated Gujarati language paper Gujarat Samachar is positioned at the sixteenth position with a total readership of 1,17,84,000, followed by Tamil daily Dinamalar at the seventeenth position having a total readership of 1,16,09,000. With a total readership of 1,04,98,000, Marathi language daily Sakal is positioned at the eighteenth and next to it is Gujarati daily Sandesh at the nineteenth position with a total readership of 1,01,52,000, followed by Rajasthan Patrika with a total readership of 96,23,000 at the twentieth position.

Growth in readership

MRUC has moved from average issue readership (AIR) to ‘total readership’ to have a true measure of readership. There are four cuts given in total readership – Yesterday, Up-to Three Days, Up-to Seven Days, and Last One Month. The council has said strict ‘no’ to comparing IRS 2017 with any other editions.

The report has revealed a total nine percent growth in total newspaper readership over the last four years. Among 12 plus individuals, the IRS 2017 has recorded last one month readership at 104 crore, up from 96 crore in the IRS 2014.

It has been recorded that readership in English dailies has grown by 10 percent over last four years and touched 2.8 crore in IRS 2017 as compared to 2.5 crore in the last IRS. Hindi readership stands at 17.6 crore in IRS 2017, up 45 percent from 12.1 crore in the IRS 2014. The largest percentage growth has been in Odiya language readership which has grown by 83 percent to 1.1 crore as compared to 0.6 crore in IRS 2014. On other side, Bengali readership grew by 9 percent to 2.1 crore from 1.9 crore recoded in the last survey.