Top newspapers show decline in readership

Six of the top 10 newspapers showed a decline in readership, according to the IRS 2007 Round 2.

The four newspapers that showed an increase were Danik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, The Times of India and Ananda Bazar Patrika.

However, Dainik Jagran continues to be the top of the heap with an average issue readership of 1.65 crore despite a decline in AIR by 3.5 per cent since the previous round.

Jagran's close competitor Dainik Bhaskar was at number 2. It registered a 2.4 per cent growth in AIR. Its readership stood at 1.28 crore.

The others in the top 10 are:

3. Malayala Manorama: It experienced negative growth. Its AIR has declined from 88.37 lakh to 86.62 lakh.

4. Hindustan: Saw a maximum decline of 5.5 per cent in readership among the top dailies. It has slipped one rank with a readership of 85.51 lakh down from 90.52 lakh in Round 1, IRS 2007.

5. Amar Ujala: declined by 2.1 per cent to an AIR of 80.75 lakh.

6..Daily Thanthi:  Its readership declined by 5.2 per cent to 79.1 lakh.

7. Rajasthan Patrika: Has shown an increase in readership by 6.5 per cent – the highest among the top 10 dailies. It readership has increased from 69.46 lakh to 74.02 lakh in the current round.

8. Eenadu: Has registered a decline in readership by 4.34 per cent with its readership at 69.19 lakh.

9. Ananda Bazar Patrika: increased its readership by 4.84 per cent, taking its readership to 68.55 lakh

10. Times of India: Increased its readership 0.69 per cent to 68.28 lakh readers.

ABP and TOI are new entrants to the top 10. Mathrubhumi and Lokmat, which were at eighth and 10th positions in the last round, have dropped out of the top 10.