IRS Q2 2010: Marathi Dailies In Mumbai

Four of top 5 Marathi newspapers in Mumbai register growth. Navakal's readership declined marginally.

Rajat Arora | Delhi | August 25, 2010

In Marathi Dailies Maharashtra Times has further strengthened its No. 1 position by adding 43,000 readers. The AIR of Maharashtra Times stands at 9, 72,000. The paper had AIR of 9, 29,000 in Q1 of IRS 2010.

Maharashtra Times is followed by Loksatta. The Marathi daily has seen growth of 5.3% in Q2 of IRS 2010. The paper now has AIR of 6, 53,000. In Q1 of IRS 2010 Loksatta had AIR of 6, 20,000.

At No. 3 is Navakal with 5, 94,000 readers. The paper has lost 12000 readers in Q2 of IRS 2010. In Q1 of IRS 2010 paper had AIR of 6, 06,000.

Saamana, the mouthpiece of Shiv Sena has recorded AIR of 3, 28,000. The paper has registered growth of 11.2%. In Q1 of IRS 2010 Saamana had AIR of 2, 95,000.

Aapala Vartihar has seen growth of 12.2% in its AIR. The paper has gained 18,000 readers in Q2 IRS 2010. The paper has 1,65,000.

Average Issue Readership (AIR) of a publication is defined as the number of readers of that publication who have claimed to have last read it within periodicity – i.e. last read a daily yesterday, a weekly within the last week, a monthly within the last month, etc.

This measure is considered to be a more relevant measure of 'real' or 'regular' readership, especially for newspapers, most of which have been read / 'consumed' as matter of daily habit. Conventionally, media planners even calculate & compare cost-benefits of dailies based on the AIR figure. And hence it is perhaps most relevant to study readership trends as well in terms of AIR.

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