Read And Weep

If this sounds like a familiar story, it is. After TV channels pilloried and trashed the TV audience measurement (TAM) ratings system last year, their ink counterparts have done the same to the 2013 Indian Readership Survey that they had commissioned. Incidentally, common to both are the exertions of the pollster, ACNielsen.

First, 18 newspaper and magazine groups (including Outlook) condemned the findings put out by the Media Res­earch Users Council (MRUC). Then, the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), the body representing the proprietors, “reje­cted” the findings after MRUC refused to withdraw the report. At the heart of the issue is a simple peeve: hundreds of wild swings and anomalies across states, defying “logic and common sense”, and vastly in contradiction with the audited findings of the Audit Bureau of Circu­l­ation (ABC). The Association of Indian Magazines (AIM) has called it “bizarre and unfathomable”. Sample this:

• Nagpur daily Hitavada with a certified circulation of 60,000, doesn’t have a single reader
• The Hindu Business Line has three times as many readers in Manipur than in hometown Chennai
• In Andhra, every title has “de-grown” readership by between 30-65 per cent
• In Haryana, Hari Bhoomi has posted a growth of 390 per cent, its readership has shot up from 2.45 lakh to 12 lakh

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. A more expensive survey, with a new methodology using better technology to capture data, was intended to help the industry—still trying to claw back from an advertising downturn which began in 2008-09—rediscover its mojo. Instead, it has left the losers whining and the winners wondering.

“Whatever be the change in methodology, it has to compare with the previous year’s base. I have a feeling the study has not been validated with proper background checks and has been rel­ea­sed in a hurry,” says N. Murali, co-chairman of Kasturi & Sons, publishers of The Hindu, whose readership ‘fell’ by 32 per cent, from 21.64 lakh to 14.73 lakh readers if you believe IRS 2013.

The Bombay daily DNA has seen its readership plummet in the age group 16-29. Says CEO Malcolm Mistry, “Acc­ording to the survey, we have lost close to 72 per cent readership in the age group 16-29...but that’s the group who are actually the core readership of this newspaper.” Mistry refuted claims that the fall was linked to decisions regarding circulation taken by the management some time back. “The swings are beyond explanation,” he says. 

In Gujarat, market leader Gujarat Samachar has suddenly been relegated to third position, leaving even the new No. 1 shocked. “We knew we were strong in the urban pockets but find it surprising that we are ahead of them across the state,” a top source in parent group Dainik Bhaskar says.

Not surprisingly, those who have ‘lost’ out are either bristling with rage or jun­k­ing the survey’s utility. A top official in Gujarat Samachar said the paper had little use for it. (In the last quarter of 2012, the paper was the leader with 43.95 lakh readers, so it must have lost 7.06 lakh eyeballs in a hurry, according to IRS ’13.)

Those who have ‘gained’ readership, meanwhile, are exulting. “Deccan Her­ald has recorded the best growth over the last IRS for the top 10 English dailies in the country,” said an announcement in the paper. Nearest competitor, the ToI, took a 14 per cent hit in rea­dership in Bangalore, against a 23 per cent jump for Herald, says the survey. 

So what went wrong? MRUC, one of the two constituents of the Readership Stu­dies Council of India (RSCI), has sou­ght more time to respond to industry conce­rns. A meeting fixed for Feb­ruary 19 may clear the picture, but privat­ely MRUC says it stands by the “techni­c­ally sound” findings. Meanwhile, as new­spapers and magazines show rare solidarity, guess who’s laughing all the way?