The Media Research Users Council India (MRUC India) released findings of the last and final quarter – Q4 – of IRS 2019.The report is based on a Rolling Average of data from 3 quarters IRS 2019 (Q1), (Q2) and (Q3) and one fresh quarter – Q4 of IRS 2019.
The sample size of IRS 2019 is 3.27L Households across India out of which urban sample size is 2.14L Households and rural is 1.13L Households.
As per the latest IRS data, newspaper readership is on a slow decline and is a trend seen across Hindi, English and Regional languages. However, radio listenership is growing, while TV viewing, too, is showing growth even on a very big base.
According to IRS Q4 2019 , Dainik Jagran continues to be the largest read daily across the languages. Dainik Bhaskar at No. 2 registered slight growth in the Q4 survey over the previous quarter. Hindustan from HT Media held its readership at No. 3 followed by Amar Ujala at No. 4.
Other than TOI, Daily Thanthi, Telegraph, Lokmat, HT and the Hindu are some of the newspapers that have seen a rise in readership even in the slow market.
The Times of India and Hindustan Times top the English dailies space. While TOI is the most read English daily in Mumbai, registering TR of 2,894,000, in Delhi it is HT that leads this space, garnering TR of 1,822,000. In Mumbai, HT is placed second with TR of 2,042,000 . Both TOI and HT have seen growth in their Total Readership, but in terms of AIR, both the dailies have seen decline as compared to Q3.
Media landscape is rapidly evolving with multi-media adoption seen across consumer strata. Overall Media reach continues to grow even as the consumption of each media remains more or less stable, with Internet making a noteworthy exception by leading this growth curve, particularly in rural India. Among other highlights from IRS 2019Q4 data – Electrification in India has surged, premium durable ownership in households have increased and so has individual’s online shopping and smart phone ownership across both urban and rural India.
Pratap Pawar, Chairman of MRUC India and Chairman of Sakal Media said , “We have successfully completed and released all four quarters of IRS 2019 data. I thank our Board of Governors and IRS Technical Committee for their unwavering commitment and their resolve in providing the industry with a robust, reliable and timely research study.”
Vikram Sakhuja, IRS Technical Committee Chairman and Group CEO Madison Media & OOH, Madison World, said, “With 4 Quarters of 2019 data now complete we are reporting a complete year’s picture. Earlier quarters had also included some part of 2017 data. A few trends are emerging. Internet penetration has increased substantially and is now mainstream along with TV and Print; NCCS D&E are reducing quarter on quarter faster than HH socio economic status thereby suggesting the need to Relook at the NCCS definition; ability to read and understand English has increased and while overall Print Readership is holding, daily readership has started showing signs of decline.”
Key Highlights include:
Better NCCS profile and growth in electrification across country. More gas stoves and toilets – indicating better living standards in rural
Education parameters improving – lowering of illiteracy and more graduates+ in the country
Consumers are better equipped, more connected and more informed
A rapidly evolving media landscape with multi-media adoption seen across consumer strata
Internet continues its surge. More number of internet users (Last 1 month) in rural now then urban
Radio listenership is growing. TV viewing too showing growth even on a very big base
Newspaper readership however, is on a slow decline and is a trend seen across Hindi, English and Regional languages
