The Hindu : <i>The Times of India </i>bucks global readership trend

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003

National

National

The Times of India bucks global readership trend

The Times of India has recorded "a scorching readership growth" of 30 per cent over the last year — a figure that might be "looked with envy by newspapers around the world," the newspaper said in a press release issued today.

The release said further:

"In a time when the daily newspaper industry is showing retarded growth across the world, it is surprising, almost unbelievable, when a newspaper performs in such a spectacular way. Even as major newspaper markets like the USA, the U.K. and Japan are stagnating or marginally declining, the Indian market is recording a healthier growth rate — of which The Times of India's performance is an indicator.

"The findings of the first round of the NRS (National Readership Survey) for 2003 have revealed that The Times of India, the fastest growing daily newspaper across India, has achieved an unprecedented readership growth of 33% over a year in New Delhi. It is now read by 1.432 million people. The readership of its closest rival, Hindustan Times, however, declined by 1 per cent over the same period. Traditionally, Hindustan Times has always been the highest read newspaper in Delhi and The Times of India has toppled this 79-year-old incumbent for the first time — 53 years after it was launched in the capital. With the latest survey results, it has become the top newspaper of the capital city. The NRS is acknowledged to be the most reliable source of newspaper readership patterns in India.

"The survey also indicated that multiple newspaper readership has grown in Delhi. Now, 11 per cent read an English daily and a language daily in 2003, compared with 9 per cent in 2002. In the local language (Hindi) segment too, The Times of India has performed better than Hindustan Times. Its Hindi morning daily, Navbharat Times clocked a readership of 1.431 million — higher than its nearest city rival, Hindustan, which recorded 1.119 million readers.

"Considering that the Indian newspaper market, as is true globally, is defined by difficult-to-dislodge readers, it is unexpected to find that a newspaper has achieved this kind of growth rate. Also, the Indian newspaper market, as opposed to the western newspaper market's hundreds of daily newspapers, is made up of only five to six national newspapers. And as expected, the fight for readership amongst these newspapers is fierce — especially between The Times of India and the Hindustan Times.

"The Times of India attributes this change to innovative and reader-relevant content — which enabled the newspaper to rope in younger readers. In a time when the young and the climbing increasingly use news sources like the internet, television and radio, this is a unique achievement."

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