IRS Q2, 2010: Negligible decline of daily readers in Greater Mumbai

The total readership of any Marathi daily is down by 2.5 per cent, while English dailies have maintained a status quo - losing a negligible number of 6,000 readers

Dailies across languages have reported marginal declines in total readership in Greater Mumbai in the current quarter of IRS. Greater Mumbai includes Mumbai City, Western Suburb, Eastern Suburb and Navi Mumbai.

Marathi dailies, which enjoy the maximum readership share in the financial capital, have reported a loss of 1.42 lakh readers in Q2, 2010, which is only 2.5 per cent of the total readership. The total readership of any Marathi daily is 56.09 lakh in the city. Out of the reported loss of readers, 84,000 readers are reportedly lost in Western Suburb, whereas in Navi Mumbai, the total readership has been retained.

The prominent Marathi dailies in the city are Maharashtra Times, Navakal, Lokmat and Loksatta, besides Mumbai Choufer and Saamna.

While Maharashtra Times has retained its readers from Q1, 2010, Navakal has lost 1.21 lakh readers. Similarly, Lokmat and Loksatta have added 66,000 and 12,000 readers, respectively.

Besides, Saamna has lost 59,000 readers, while the tabloid Mumbai Choufer has lost 24,000 readers.

Hindi dailies have also reportedly lost 4.5 per cent readers in Q2, 2010 in Greater Mumbai. Hindi dailies in the city get their maximum readers from Mumbai West and Navi Mumbai and in these reporting units, Hindi dailies have lost 56,000 and 36,000 readers respectively.

Navbharat Times, Yeshobhumi and Hamara Mahanagar are the top three dailies in the city. While Navbharat Times has lost 1.18 lakh readers, the other two have lost 22,000 readers each in the current round.

With a negligible loss of 18,000 readers, Gujarati dailies have almost maintained their readership in the city. Western Suburbs, which hosts the maximum number of Gujarati speaking population in the city, has contributed an additional 23,000 readers to the total readership of Gujarati dailies. However, in the other three reporting units, Gujarati dailies have lost readers.

The top three Gujarati dailies in the city include Gujarat Samachar, Bombay Samachar and Divya Bhaskar. In the current round, Gujarat Samachar has maintained a status quo and has added 27,000 readers. Bombay Samachar had added 58,000 readers. Divya Bhaskar, at No. 3, has lost 14,000 readers.

While the regional language newspapers have reported marginal declines in readership, English dailies have retained it.

Hindustan Times, the fifth largest English daily in the city, has added 60,000 readers, while the No. 1 English daily, The Times of India (TOI), has added 17,000. Mumbai Mirror, Mid-Day and DNA have all lost readers in the current round.

Mumbai Mirror, the No. 2 English daily in the city, has lost 63,000 readers - after adding 58,000 readers in Q1, 2010.

Mid-Day, at No. 3, has lost 32,000 readers, while DNA, at No. 4, has lost 14,000 readers.