By Ritu Midha
This article is an attempt at a quick observation of combined readership of eight metros: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad.  The combined data indicates a fall in readership for three publications: Anand Bazar Patrika, Hindustan and Lokmat over Q2, 2010. All other publications except Daily Thanthi show a single digit growth. Daiy Thanthi shows a sturdy growth of 10 percent.
If we look at eight metros – The Times of India emerges as the market leader – however, if we look at each metro in isolation, The Times of India leads only in Greater Mumbai. Publications presence in all metros, and that too in the top five, helps it in maintaining leadership position.
Ananda Bazar Patrika, the number two publication in 8 metros, interestingly, is present in top 10 dailies only in Kolkata – where it is top of the pack.
Hindustan Times, the number three daily in eight metros leads in Delhi and is number five in Mumbai. It is not in top 10 in the other six metros.
Navbharat Times, the number four daily is at number three in Delhi and Number nine in Mumbai – it is not there in the top ten in rest of the metros
Gujarat Samachar is at number five in eight metros – it is at number two in Ahmedabad and number four in Gujarat. It, too has no presence in top 10 list of any other metro.
Daily Thanthi leads in Chennai, and is at number eight in Bangalore – and this brings it at number 6 position in eight metros.
Lokmat at number 8 in Mumbai, is at number 2 in Pune, and occupies number 7 slot in top 10 dailies in eight metros
Daily Sakal leads in Pune with a big margin, and by its virtue sits on number eight slot in eight metros
Hindustan Number 4 paper in Delhi is at number 9 in eight metros
DIvya Bhaskar, the market leader in Ahmedabad completes the top 10 list
DNA, in the top 10 in Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad does not find a place in top 10 eight metros.
Mumbai: In terms of percentage growth – Hindustan Times show the sturdiest growth – a 27.2 percent jump vis-a-vis same quarter previous year. Interestingly all the Marathi publications show a negative growth, while all the English dailies grow positively. However, when compared with previous quarter seven publications show a negative growth. Top three publications in the city are from The Times of India stable.
If we look at Mumbai vs Maharashtra – readership patterns are quite different – Punya Nagri, Pudhari and Daily Sakal – among the top 10 in Maharashtra are not there in Mumbai. In its place are DNA, Navakal and Navbharat Times. While in Mumbai, three of the top five dailies are English. One is Gujarati and the other Hindi, in Maharashtra the picture is very different with The Times of India being the only English daily in top five – and the other four being Marathi publications.
Delhi: The gap between the market leader Hindustan Times and the Challenger The Times of India narrows as Hindustan Times sees a marginal fall of 0.7 percent, while The Times of India grows by 1.3 percent from Quarter 2, 2010. Nai Duniya needs a special mention as it has grown by 117 percent, though on a small base. Navbharat Times has also shown a double digit growth – some of it, perhaps at the expense of Hindustan, which has gone down by 3 percent.
Bangalore: The top five publications have shown a positive growth. On the percentage basis growth over quarter 2, 2010, by English Dailies The Times of India (33.9 percent), Deccan Herald (22.6 percent) and Bangalore Mirror (151.6 percent)is much higher than the language counterparts.
Bangalore and Karnataka top 10 have seven common publications – and the top two remain the same. However, three publications in Bangalore (two of which are English dailies) : Daily Thanthi, Deccan Chrocle and DNA are missing in Karnataka, and in their place are Samyukta Karnatak, Sanjavani and Tarun Bharat.
Hyderabad: Hyderabad is the only metro, where all the top dailies have shown a negative growth over the same quarter previous year. Interestingly, on Q on Q basis Daily Munsif is the only daily showing a negative growth, all the other publications show positive growth there, though not enough to cover the shortfall witnessed earlier.
Andhra Bhoomi and Andhra Prabha are the two publications in the top 10 list of Andhra Pradesh, which are missing in the top 10 of Hyderabad. In their place are The Munsif and The Economic Times
Chennai : Â Six dailies show negative growth, three positive while one remains unchanged. Daily Thanthi, the market leader shows a healthy growth of 8.5 percent and is ahead of number two Dinakaran with a big margin.
Chennai and Tamilnadu share the top nine dailies – though not necessarily in the same order. There is a change on the tenth position where Malayala Manorama is present in Chennai, while for Tamil Nadu it is, Tamizh Murasu.
Pune: In Pune market leader Daily Sakal is ahead of its closest competitor Lokmat by a margin of 40 percent – it shows a 10 percent growth vis-a-vis Q2 previous year. Most noteworthy growth is recorded by Maharashtra Times at a whopping 638.5 percent.
Pune and Maharshtra, meanwhile have seven publications in common. Three in Maharashtra which are missing in Pune are Deshonatti, Gujarat Samachar and Mumbai Mirror. In its place Pune has Prabhat ka Anand and Samna.
Ahmedabad: In Ahmedabad, all the English Dailies except DNA show robust growth over Q2, 2010– The Times of India grows by 44.2 percent, Ahmedabad Mirror by 32.1 percent, The Economic Times by 50 percent, and The Indian Express by 66.7 percent. Market leader Divya Bhaskar grows by 6.5 percent and is ahead of Gujarat Samachar by close to 20 percent.
In Ahmedabad and Gujarat, the top four publications remain same, with Divya Bhaskar and Gujarat Samachar interchanging top two slots. However three English publications that find a place in Ahmedabad – DNA, The Economic Times and The Indian Express are missing in Gujarat. Only English publication in both Gujarat and Ahmedabad is The Times of India.
Kolkata: Market leader Ananda Bazar Patrika shows negative growth of 3.8 percent over same quarter previous year. However, in spite of it, it continues to be ahead of Bartaman, the number two daily by more than 100 percent margin. Five Bengali dailies show a negative growth in this duration. Of the English dailies only The Times of India shows a negative growth – of 4.3 percent.
Kolkata is highly representative of West Bengal as eight publications are same in the capital and the state. Interestingly, the top three are at the same rank. Only two changes are The Statesman and Prabhat Khabar in Kolkata which are replaced by Uttar Banga Sambad and Sambad in West Bengal
State Watch: Dailies – IRS Q2, 2011
Here is MXM’s quick observation of the remaining states:
Rajasthan:Â Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Navjyoti show a healthy growth over Q2, 2010. In spite of 0.9 percent drop when compared quarter on quarter Rajasthan Patrika continues to be the leader, with Dainik Bhaskar close on its heels. Of English dailies Hindustan Times shows the largest percentage growth at 64.1 percent when compared with same quarter in 2010. Five publications show a negative growth over previous quarter. Q on Q, Daininik Navjyoti, Punjab Kesari and Hindustan Times show a healthy double digit growth.
West Bengal: Moving eastwards, seven of the top ten publications show negative growth over the same quarter previous year. Of these seven Ganashakti is the only one which shows a positive growth over the previous quarter. In spite of a 7.3 percent drop in readership over the same quarter previous year, Ananda Bazar Patrika continues to be the leader with a huge margin. Of the English dailies, The Telegraph shows a 1.2 percent growth and continues to be number three in the overall ranking for the state.
Assam: Only Assam Tribune of 10 leading publications show a positive growth, over the same quarter previous year. Both the new publications Dainik Jugasankha and Ajir Asom– surveyed from IRS Q1, 2011 also show a negative growth Q on Q. Asomiya Pratidin, in spite of showing negative growth in both quarters continues to be the market leader with more than three times the size of number two publication Asomiya Khabar.
Orissa: Unlike other states in East and North East, four English publications find place in the top ten – however The Telegraph is the only English publication to show a positive growth over the same quarter previous year – though on a small reader base. Seven out of 10 leading publications show a negative growth both Q on Q, and over the same quarter previous year – and fall in numbers is quite substantial in case of Orissa. Sambad, the leader, shows a drop of 6.4 percent as compared to Q2, 2010. Meanwhile, number two, Dhaitri has shown a 10.1 percent growth in the same duration – closing the gap with the number One publication.
Andhra Pradesh: Moving down South, in Andhra Pradesh, eight out of 10 publications show a down turn over the same quarter previous year. Sakshi and Andhra Bhoomi are the only two publications to show a positive growth. Market leader Eenadu shows a drop of 2.3 percent over the same quarter previous year. Sakshi, the number two clocks a growth of 9 percent in the same duration – reducing the gap with the market leader.
Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu emerges as an interesting market from a media watcher’s perspective. While six publications show a negative growth over the same quarter previous year, when it comes to quarter on quarter numbers, The Hindu is the only publication to show a negative growth. Daily Thanthi, in spite of a drop of 2.3 percent over the same quarter previous year continues to lead the pack with a massive margin.
Kerala: Biggest blow in Kerala comes for The Hindu, which shows a percentage drop of 67.8 percent, over the same quarter previous year. Malayala Manorama with a positive growth continues to be the market leader. Five publications show a negative growth over the same quarter previous year.
Karnataka: Karntaka emerges as the market with most positive growth figures. Nine of the 10 dailies show a positive growth over the same quarter previous year. Only publication to show negative growth is Tarun Bharat with a 36.1 percent fall in readership in this time duration. However, when compared Q on Q, the number of publications with fall in readership goes up to five. Viay Karnataka with a growth of 5.2 percent over the Q2, 2010 continues to be the market leader – however number two daily Prajavani grows at a much faster pace of 31.3 percent and closes the gap with the market leader.
By Ranjona Banerji
The latest IRS figures are in. And as usual, newspaper edits get busy boasting about rise in readership. Or, they’ll work out ingenious ways to interpret the findings, to keep their board of directors and advertisers in good cheer. By the way, I often wonder if everyone’s readership is healthy, who’s taking the fall? Anyway, that’s not the point of my article. And neither do I wish to discuss IRS’s methodology.