Print grows, Internet jumps: IRS

In what comes as good news, the Print story continues to grow in India, while active Internet users has taken a significant jump, according to the latest Indian Readership Survey (IRS) data released by Media Research Users Council (MRUC).

From now on, IRS would send out quarterly updates that the industry was expecting for several years. The IRS Q1 2019 report is a rolling average of three quarters of 2017 and Q1 2019; sample size is 3.24 lakh households.

"This is the world's largest face to face multimedia and consumption study...these findings are in line with the market truths and a testimony of IRS’ rigourous processes and quality control norms," according to MRUC Chairman Ashish Bhasin.

According to the available data, the total number of print readers have increased from 40.7 to 42.4 crore - an addition of 1.8 crore. The growth has been equal in rural and urban areas. Besides, the growth has been seen across languages.

Internet usage up

Internet usage has increased with India now having a total of 384 million active Internet users. The MRUC also found that the online newspaper readership too has shown an increase.

As far as magazines are concerned, readership has shown increase from 7.8 crore to 8.7 crore - an increase of 0.9 crore.

Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO Madison Media & OOH, Madison World and IRS Technical Committee Chairman, added: "I am extremely satisfied with the release of this round of IRS. In particular, we have used technology to infuse a totally new standard of field controls. The resultant data is robust and representative of the diversity and heterogeneity of our wonderful country. Overall Media consumption and Print in particular is vibrant and growing. Most stakeholders should be encouraged with this snapshot of how India is consuming Media and Print.”