Newspaper Readership Up In 97-98: Survey

Though Daily Thanthi heads the list of top 10 dailies in the country with a readership of 85.5 lakh, it is Hindi-language Dainik Bhaskar which has posted a smart growth by adding 11.5 lakh readers. Magazines like Saras Salili and Grihasobha still continue to hold sway with a readership of 65 and 59.3 lakh, respectively, according to a survey of readership between December 1997 and June 1998.

Dainik Bhaskar led in urban readership followed by Times of India among the dailies, while Grihasobha, along with India Today (English and Hindi), were the leading magazines read by urban India.

Doordarshan National is the most watched (39.6 per cent) channel, while among the satellite channels it is Zee TV which is watched (6.9 per cent) more than the other channels. Gainers in actual viewership term are the focused channels like Music Asia (gained 14.8 lakh viewers) and ESPN.

 

The study also shows that growth of cable and satellite TV has flattened out in urban areas and the higher growth rate (11.1 per cent) has been coming from smaller towns where the population is below one lakh.

The study also revealed that there are about 53 lakh cable and satellite homes in rural India.

Though Andhra Pradesh has the largest base of cable and satellite homes (5.7 lakh), the northern belt comprising Rajasthan, Haryana and Bihar have shown substantial growth in cable and satellite homes.

In the print medium, while male readership (73.3 lakh) makes Daily Thanthi the leading daily amongst males, Malyalam Manorama is the highest read (24.1 lakh) daily amongst females.

The joint marketing and research analysis, done under the aegis of Indian Media & market Studies, is a continuous process carried out by Media Research Users Council and ORG-Marg where the former provides the user perspective., to the latter who have an expertise in research.

The total sample coverage of round one and two of the IRS `98 encompasses 2965 towns/villages with 2,07,284 samples achieved.

IMMS comprises five unique and exhaustive media and market studies:

* IRS `98 which is the largest media sample size of 2,09,076 respondents providing readership estimates of 313 publications as well as viewership and listenership of TV and radio.

* Indian Consumer `98 which profiles consumers and includes demographic information, media penetration and buying behaviour.

* Indian Market `98 which reports the penetration of 53 products categories and relates it to consumer demographic segments.

* Product Profiles `98 comprises 53 different reports one for each category and TV Baseline `98 which gives penetration of TV, cable and satellite and of each specific channel.