IRS 2016 will target 330,000 respondents

Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI) has announced the launch of work on the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) for 2016, a survey of media usage, product consumption and ownership.

RSCI was formed by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The survey data will be issued by January next year, followed by regular quarterly updates. For this survey, RSCI has increased the sample size by 40 per cent at an all-India level. There will now be a total of 330,000 respondents, across 91 districts and 101 district clusters.

The technical committee, it says, has enhanced the process of back-checks and included a third-party auditor for monitoring the process of survey design and quality control. And, added various safety enhancement layers, using technology like trackers for GPS locations of interviewers, enhanced audio recording and electronically addressed forms. I Venkat, chairman, MRUC, said: “India is one of those unique markets where the print medium is growing consistently, even though we are on the brink of a digital revolution. IRS is the only industry-recognised readership and consumer profiling survey in the country and the team has worked hard to ensure it meets the high standards expected.”   

The most recent IRS data was issued in March 2015, the IRS 2014. That was a one-time release instead of quarterly and 238,000 respondents across 92 individual districts and 99 district clusters. The readership survey details for IRS 2015 is expected in the coming weeks.

Since 2013, the IRS has been in controversy, with publications challenging the data. In 2014 when IRS 2013 was released, many leading publications objected to the findings and asked for it to be withdrawn. The Indian Newspaper Society had put out an advisory asking members to reject the survey. Ultimately, MRUC and its partners held the survey in abeyance for a while and re-released the data, with new guidelines.