IRS 2011 Q2: HT and NBT gain readers in National Capital

The top 10 dailies in the national capital territory which includes Delhi and its urban environ have gained marginal readers. Hindustan Times has added 18,000 readers, while TOI has added 6,000. However, the biggest gainer in the last two years is Navbharat Times which has added 2.05 lakh readers.

Hindustan Times (HT) continues to lead the National Capital Region (NCR) which includes Delhi and its urban environs - the position it took over from The Times of India (TOI) in IRS 2010 Q1. Since then HT has gained 1.85 lakh readers. HT has managed to add 18,000 readers in National Capital Region (NCR) in the current quarter with a total readership of 34.03 lakh. And in the last two years (since R1, 2009), the newspaper has added around 73,000 readers.

As compared with the last quarter of IRS (Q1 2011), both English and Hindi dailies in the NCR have gained a few readers. Hindi dailies have added 76,000 total readers in Delhi, while English dailies have added 64,000 readers. However, this gain is still minimal compared to the loss of 4.24 lakh readers and 2.69 lakh readers that Hindi and English dailies have incurred in the last two years since R1, 2009.

The No. 2 position in the NCR is taken up by BCCL's Hindi offering Navbharat Times, with a TR of 33.50 lakh, registering a gain of 2.05 lakh, in the last two years since R1, 2009. It's the biggest gainer in the last two years.

The TOI at No. 3, has lost 1.73 lakh readers in the last two years, but has managed to record a marginal growth of 6,000 readers this time in the Capital. The TOI claims 32.28 lakh total readers in the current round - 1.75 lakh readers behind TOI.

The country's largest read daily, Dainik Jagran enjoys the fourth position in NCR and has gained 45,000 readers in the current round taking its total readership to 24.79 lakh. However, even with this gain in total readership, the Hindi daily has lost more than lakh readers in the last two years.

The Hindi daily, Hindustan, is at No. 5 in Delhi, with a total readership of 23.51 lakh -- a gain of 44,000 readers this quarter. But, the daily is still down by 55,000 readers since R1, 2009.

At No. 6, Punjab Kesari which has been losing readers in the last few rounds has also managed to add 13,000 readers taking its total readership to 22.43 lakh. The newspaper has lost 3.43 lakh total readers in last two years.

Amar Ujala and The Economic Times (ET) occupy the No. 7 (TR of 6.12 lakh) and No. 8 (TR of 5.35 lakh) spot respectively, in Delhi. While Amar Ujala has lost close to two lakh readers since R1 2009, ET has added 56,000 readers during this period.

Dainik Bhaskar and Mail Today are at the No. 9 and No. 10 position, this quarter, with a total readership of 3.81 lakh and 2.89 lakh respectively, in the capital. Both the dailies have added 91,000 and 44,000 readers, respectively, in the last two years.

(Total readership includes any reader who has read any of the last six issues; whereas average issue readership includes only readers who have read the last issue.)