Readership across India has either increased or remained steady for Q3 (Third Quarter of FY 2019-20) according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) released by Media Research Users Council (MRUC). Multimedia consumption has risen, with each medium retaining its loyal consumers. Overall growth has been led by digital. Â
The IRS 2019Q3 Report, excluding Andhra Pradesh, is a rolling average over the Last Quarter of 2017 (Q4), and Three Quarters of 2019 (Q1+Q2 +Q3 2019) with a reporting sample of 3,15,255 HHs (households). However, data for Andhra Pradesh has not been included in the current report and will be updated shortly while fieldwork in J&K was affected by administrative/political developments.
The NCCS (New Consumer Classification System) AB, which replaced the historical Socio-Economic Classification (SEC) method in 2014, indicates an upward trend even as all media have retained their hold on their consumers notwithstanding growing internet consumption.
This report is based on a Rolling Average of data from Last quarter of IRS 2017, 2 quarters IRS 2019 (Q1) and (Q2) and one fresh quarter — Q3 of IRS 2019.
The following are some of the key highlights in various categories:
| CATEGORY | URBAN | RURAL |
| TV in Last 1 Month (L1M, Q3) | *(89) 88% | (70) 69% |
| Newspapers (L1M, Q3) | (53) 52% | (70) 69% |
| Magazines (L1M, Q3) | (9) 9% | (4) 3% |
| Listened to Radio (L1M, Q3) | (29) 30% | (16) 16% |
| Accessed Internet (L1M, Q3) | (44) 50% | (22) 28% |
| Watched Cinema (L1M, Q3) | (6) 6% | (22) 28% |
(*Represents the figure in the last quarter)
ENGLISH LANGUAGE READERSHIP
English language readership across India continues to grow steadily, if not exponentially. The No.1 slot goes to Nagaland at 67%, followed by Sikkim at 66%, and J&K at 64%.
Interestingly, the Delhi readership market stands at 50% while Kerala, despite recording India’s highest literacy, clocked in at 48%. Himachal Pradesh stands at 57%. Madhya Pradesh brings up the bottom at 14%, preceded by Rajasthan at 16%, Chahattisgarh at 16%, and Bihar at 21%.
TR AND AIR
Both Total Readership (TR) and All India Readership (AIR) have continued to be more or less stable or have risen slightly over the last quarter for ‘Any Dailies’, ‘Any Regional Dailies’, and ‘Any English Dailies’ across North, South, East, and West.
MAGAZINES
In ‘Magazines’, TR for All India has remained at 8% and for Urban and Rural at 13% and 5%, respectively. All India Readership has also remained at 4% from the last quarter while for Urban and Rural, it has continued to be same again at 7% and 3%, respectively.
Interestingly, credible reportage and quality of news filtering have accounted for the steady and stable growth in the magazine segment across India.
TOP DAILIES
The Top Dailies in the four key metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata represent only four key players:
While The Times of India takes the top slot in all the four metros, Hindustan Times comes in at the No. 2 slot in Mumbai and Delhi. The Hindu and Telegraph come in at No. 2 in Chennai and Kolkata, respectively. All four papers have shown steady growth quarter on quarter, with HT taking a slight hit in Delhi and Mumbai on an All India basis while Telegraph also shows a marginal dip in Kolkata in both TR and AIR.
The survey was prepared by research agency Nielsen India with a Sample Size of 3,30,000 across 28 States and 95 Towns (2017). There was a 40% increase in Sample Size/Third Party audits for field and audio recordings.
