MUMBAI: While the print industry seems to be on the decline globally, the domestic print media has expanded to 42.5 crore readers, largely driven by regional language publications, a report said.
The print industry is growing, with the dailies adding 1.8 crore readers since IRS survey released in 2017, while there were 0.9 crore additional readers for magazines, as per the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) report of Q1 2019 released by Media Research Users Council (MRUC).
The IRS Q1 2019 report is a rolling average over 3 quarters of 2017 and Q1 2019 with reporting sample of 3.24 lakh households.
Hindi dailies led the growth adding 1 crore readers, while regional added 0.8 crore readers and English dailies added 0.3 crore readers.
The IRS is a study of the print media readership. The Times of India, the lone English daily in the top 10 table, that is topped by Dainik Jagran, moved up two places.
While market leader Dainik Jagran tops with a total readership of 7,36,73,000 readers, Times of India comes at ninth slot with a total readership of 1,52,36,000.
Data for Hindustan and Hindustan Times were not reported pending review, it said. Dainik Bhaskar took the second spot with 5,14,05,000 readers, followed by Amar Ujala with 4,76,45,000 readers it said.
Daily Thanthi had a total readership of 2,40,54,000. The Marathi daily Lokmat occupies the fifth place with a total readership of 1,96,91,000, followed by the Rajasthan Patrika with a total readership of 1,80,36,000 and the Malayala Manorama with a total readership of 1,74,77,000.
The Telugu daily Eenadu is at the eighth spot with 1,56,73,000 total readership, while Prabhat Khabar occupies the 10th position with a total readership of 1,41,02,000.
The New Indian Express and Dinamani have recorded the highest readership percentage growth in their respective categories.
The New Indian Express recorded a growth of 22.49% - the highest in the English dailies category. Dinamani, the Tamil daily from the same group, recorded the highest readership growth of 15% in the Tamil dailies category.