Consumption of news online is steadily growing, reveals IRS data

Consumption of news online is steadily growing, data from the latest round of the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) released on Wednesday shows. This data is for the second quarter (Q2) of calendar year 2019, covering 336,000 households. The study has been conducted by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).

The survey shows that online consumption of news in the last one month of Q2 grew 15 per cent versus 13.8 per cent in Q1 of calendar year 2019 and 9 per cent in 2017 (full year). In comparison, total readership of any daily newspaper has reduced to 35.8 per cent in Q2 of 2019 versus 36.8 per cent in Q1 . Total readership for any daily in 2017 was the same as Q1 of 2019, data shows.

Despite the fall in readership of dailies in Q2, English newspapers have held on, data showed, with their average issue readership at 1.2 per cent for the period under review. This is the same for Q1 of 2019 as well as 2017.

In comparison, Hindi and regional dailies have fallen in terms of their average issue readership, touching 6.7 per cent and 8.1 per cent for the period under review. In Q1, their average issue readership was 7.1 per cent and 8.4 per cent. While in 2017, it was 7.2 per cent and 8.7 per cent respectively.

“The findings of IRS 2019 Q2 gives us a clear picture of the reality – that digital is on a roll and continues to grow at a faster pace," said Ashish Bhasin, CEO, Greater South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, who is also chairman, MRUC. 

"Print readership remains stable and media houses will have to harness the power of the two to derive maximum mileage,” he said.