The Hindu : Newspaper readership up, says study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

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Newspaper readership up, says study

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI June 17. Newspaper readership has grown by 20 per cent in the country, from 131 million in 1999 to 156 million in 2002, which is higher than the literacy growth (13 per cent) in the same period, according to the National Readership Study, 2002 whose findings were released here today. When taken together with publications of other periodicity, the growth was only 10 per cent.

While television continued to compete with the print medium for audience and revenue through advertising, the study recorded a decline in time spent on media such as the press, TV, radio and Internet by about one hour a week — from 14 to 13 hours a day among urban adults, while it is six hours weekly in rural areas. But the reading time of some 18 minutes per day has remained.

The study, done by the National Readership Studies Council, is one of the largest in the world with a reporting sample size of 2,13,000 individuals to track media exposure and changes in consumer trends and readership in both rural and urban areas covering 514 publications, dailies and magazines.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka dominate the markets with a high reach of television, accessing 42 per cent of all homes. They also have a cable and satellite reach at 49 per cent of all homes with a TV. Gujarat is another State with "high access". Radio, however, remains stagnant, reaching only 28 per cent of the adult population (30 per cent in the rural segment and 24 in the urban).

Internet access has increased to six million in the last three months, the growth stabilising at two million a year. While office is no longer the main place of access, a fifth of net users surf from home and 43 per cent go to Internet cafes.

Another significant aspect is that more urban housewives — from 21.7 million in 1999 to 25.4 million now — read a daily newspaper which is at the cost of reading magazines, hitherto considered the staple diet for most women.

The reach of magazines has declined from 93.8 million in 1999 to 86.2 million in 2002, a 22 per cent loss, taking into account the population growth during the same period. Erosion has come mainly in the general interest, film/entertainment and sports magazines category.

Television still commands a 72 per cent share of the average of 13 hours per week in the urban audience segment. Interestingly, despite a surge in programme options, the average viewing time has slipped from 85 minutes in 1999 to 82 minutes this year.

Television now reaches 81.6 million homes, a growth of 12 per cent in two years, but the reach through the cable and satellite network has been higher at 31 per cent.

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