Indian Economy News

Newspapers see 38% jump in readership: IRS 2017

A man reads a cover story in a daily national newspaper at a roadside stall in Allahabad

New Delhi: The number of newspaper readers has risen by more than 110 million since 2014, according to the Indian Readership Survey 2017 (IRS 2017).

The readership (including readers who have read a newspaper in the past one month) in IRS 2014 was 295 million. This grew by 38 per cent over the next three years to reach 407 million. The IRS is brought out by the Readership Studies Research Council of India (RSCI) and the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).

Thirty-nine per cent of the population (above 12 years of age) read newspapers (all India). The bulk of this new readership comes from rural India. In urban India, 53 per cent consumed newspapers while in rural India, the figure is 31 per cent.

While in the 2014 survey, rural India’s newspaper readership was 143 million, in 2017, it was 214 million.

Urban areas also saw increase in readership from 152 million in 2014 to 193 million in 2017. A large part of the readership increase has come from the launch of new publications.

The increase in readership in rural areas is also reflective of the literacy rates in these regions improving.

Ashish Bhasin, chairman, MRUC, and chairman and CEO — South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, says: “According to the findings of the report, 39 per cent of Indians (above 12 years of age) read newspapers, and 20 per cent of all newspaper readers in the 5 million plus population towns read newspapers online.”

The universe for IRS 2017 expanded to 1.05 billion from 962 million in IRS 2014 (12 years and above), and of these, four per cent consumed news digitally too. Nearly 5 million people read newspapers only through digital while the rest consumed news using a combination of media.

The survey shows that newspaper reading (hard copy) is still a habit among the younger demographic. Newspaper readership was 50 per cent in the 16-19 age group, the highest in any age segment, followed by 42 per cent each in the 12-15 and 20-29 age groups.

Hindi dailies saw a huge spurt in readership despite a healthy base of 121 million readers in 2014. According to the IRS 2017 data, they saw a 45 per cent surge in readership to reach 176 million. Gujarati dailies saw a similar growth spurt (44 per cent), albeit on a smaller base (16 million in 2014 to 23 million in 2017). English dailies saw 12 per cent increase in readership from 25 million in 2014 to 28 million 2017.

Magazines almost doubled the readership, according to IRS 2017 — from 40 million in 2014 to 78 million in the latest report. Here the growth has come from the urban areas, which added 22 million readers while rural India added 17 million readers. In percentage terms, seven per cent of the universe read magazines in 2017. Twelve per cent of urban India and five per cent of rural India contributed to magazine readership.

After grievances about the data in 2013 and 2014, the committee behind the IRS took a step back to update the methodology and security measures while conducting the survey. As a result, the survey has been released after three years. The sample size for IRS 2017 is the largest ever at 320,000 respondents.

The reach of different media also saw a hike. Television led the roster with 75 per cent reach, followed by newspapers at 39 per cent, followed by the radio and internet at 19 per cent each.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

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