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National Readership Survey (NRS) (research on various media) Brought out first in 1971, the NRS was conducted to yield readership data instead of circulation data. The second NRS was published in 1978; the third in 1983, the fourth in 1990, fifth in 1994, 1995 and NRS VI had also come to the market in the early 1998.

NRS VI has the distinction of being an industry survey as it is sponsored by publishing advertisers and advertising agencies. The aims of the NRS among others are the following:

To provide information that can be used for buying and selling of advertising space in the print media.

To provide media users with data on comparative levels vis--vis TV/radio, cinema and video.

The NRS covers readership estimates for various selected publications, viewership of TV, video and cinema, listenership ratio, duplication between publications and inter-media duplications.

For the first time, the NRS provides the distribution of households by social classes, according to the new SEC developed by the Market Research Society of India. This system is based on the occupation and education of the chief wage earner of the household, so as to create an alternative to the household income, so far used as the basis of classifying households. The NRS has covered urban areas except for the states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Punjab.

The universe of NRS VI is now a resident of urban Indian of age 15+. It covered 590 towns, classified into respective population strata based on the 1981 Census (Over 40 lakh base metros; 10-40 lakhs mini metros; 1-10 lakhs and below 1 lakh).

A stratified multi-stage sampling procedure was used for the survey. Administrative districts constituted the primary stratum for sampling. All the towns with over 2-lakh population, those with publication centers of dailies in the district were included purposely. The rest were a predetermined number of

towns within a district selected using PPS methodology (Probability Proportional to Population Size of each town). The selection of respondents for the survey was made using a two-step procedure. A sample of voters was drawn from the electoral rolls in clusters of a predetermined size; then those addresses were selected, where voters who were currently or formerly residing. The adults of these households participated in the readership interviews. Although the survey was urban in nature, 140 villages in Kerala were included (Kerala as we know is a 100 percent literate state and is also a center of some of the highly circulated publications). The selection of publications was finalized by a committee, which comprised a cross-section of media planners and media directors from leading advertising agencies. The publications were selected on the basis of the Minimum Circulation Criterion. The measurement criterion of readership was ascertained using the Masthead method. A booklet which had the reproductions of mastheads of various publications was used for aided recall of respondents. The average issue readership of a publication was estimated by determining the number of respondents who read any issue within a specified time interval = publication interval, i.e., daily, yesterday, weekly-7 days, fortnightly-14 days, monthly-4 weeks.

How does NRS help a media planner? The NRS establishes a product-consumer profile linkage; consumption and ownership pattern among various target segments and their preferences, number of hours devoted in media. NRS provides segment wise readership surveys and overall size of each segment.

IRS Riders
A GOOD WAY TO UNDERSTAND CONSUMER PROFILING AND BEHAVIOR

WHAT IS IRS? WHAT ARE IRS RIDERS? HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO INCLUDE MY QUESTIONS? HOW WILL I BENEFIT FROM RIDERS? WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS CAN I ADD? HOW DOES MY AGENCY BENEFIT FROM THIS? I HAVE DECIDED TO ADD RIDER QUESTIONS. WHAT ARE THE STEPS INVOLVED? WHEN WILL I GET THE DATA?

WHAT IS IRS?

IRS is the largest continuous study in the country with a sample size of more than 2.5 lakh households across India. It has been providing invaluable information to the media and marketing fraternity since 1997. Such a large sample size coupled with the spread and depth of the captured categories make IRS perhaps the largest continuous syndicated study in the world.

WHAT ARE IRS RIDERS?

IRS offers you the opportunity to place your own questions in the questionnaire. These are called IRS riders.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO INCLUDE MY QUESTIONS?

The cost is dependant on the number and type of questions you wish to insert. If you provide us with the questions you wish to insert, we will not only rationalize them, but work out an attractive cost as well.

HOW WILL I BENEFIT FROM RIDERS?

The greatest benefit of IRS riders is the scope. There is no survey that can match its coverage (all India with top 70 cities individually reported) and scope (250,000 respondents). It is probably the best means to profile your consumers obtain behavioral trends over time, size your relevant markets with more accuracy and most importantly, possess vital information that gives you the edge over competition.

WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS CAN I ADD?

IRS covers many product categories other than media habits. In such a questionnaire, we do not recommend open ended questions; rather, we suggest specific, crisp questions that delve into consumer behavior more category incidence, brand incidence, frequency of purchase/use, etc.

HOW DOES MY AGENCY BENEFIT FROM THIS?

Since your agency does most of the planning work for you, if this data is made available to your agency, it enables prudent strategic and media planning.

I HAVE DECIDED TO ADD RIDER QUESTIONS. WHAT ARE THE STEPS INVOLVED? WHEN WILL I GET THE DATA?

IRS is now moved to quarterly reporting. This means that you have an opportunity to place questions four times a year. Once we finalize your questions and payment formalities are taken care of, we place the questions in the forthcoming round. Typically, the final date for accepting questions is in the month of Jan, April, July and October. However, you are advised to get in touch with the IRS team at irshelpdesk@hansaresearch.com to get the latest dates and check on availability of space in the questionnaire for the forthcoming round. Some clients who have benefited from IRS riders in the past:

Western Union Money Transfer Hindustan Unilever Pepsi Godrej Philips Times of India Harvard Business School FOR FURTHER DETAILS, WRITE TO

irshelpdesk@hansaresearch.com

OR CALL 91-22-4344 2677 91-22-4344 2694

Indian Readership Survey or IRS is one of the largest readership survey conducted in India. Conducted by Hansa Research for Media Research User's Council ( MRUC), IRS covers readership for newspapers, internet usage, television veiwership . Established in 1995 IRS data is widely used by media planners for finalising the media strategy. Besides giving the readership habits, IRS also provides valuable insights into the consumption habits of the Indian consumer. According the Hansa Reaseach, the information coverage of IRS is as follows Media data study includes the following : Press Readership: 350 + Publications TV: 150+ channels Cinema Internet Radio Listener ship: 15+ Radio Stations Product data for the following is captured 70+ FMCG products usage and consumption habits 30+ Durable products ownership details Financial Services Urban & Rural Lifestyle Indicators Telecom Data ( Source: Hansaresearch.com) IRS uses sample from 24 states 91 cities covering a 250,000 respondents.The sampling details can be found here IRS survey results are dissected by the media executives to prove their reach and cost advantages. IRS is done twice a year and right now IRS round 1 2007 is out. According to IRS Round 1 : The top English Dailies are as follows (readership in 000's) 1.Times of India :6781 2.Hindustan Times:3331 3.Hindu : 2209 4.Deccan Chronicle:1311 5.Telegraph:919 6.The Economic Times: 774 7.Mumbai Mirror:735

8.DNA:539 8.Tribune:539 9.Midday:509 10.Deccan Herald:498 The Top Indian Newspapers are (readership in 000's) 1.Dainik Jagron: 17114 2.Dainik Bhaskar:12514 3.Hindustan:9052 4.Malayala Manorama:9052 5.Daily Thanthi:8351 6.Amar Ujala:8255 7.Eenadu:7233 8.Mathrubhumi:6961 9.Rajastan Pathrika: 6946 10. Lokmat:6874 Top Indian magazines are : (readership in 000's) 1.Saras Salil Hindi Fortnightly 4760 2.Vanitha Malayalam Fortnightly 3067 3.India Today English Weekly 2786 4.Grihshobha Hindi Monthly 2486 5. Malayala Manorama Malayalam Weekly 2294 6.Kumudam Tamil Weekly 2130 7.Balarama Malayalam Weekly 2124 8.India Today Hindi Weekly 1943 9. Anandavikadan Tamil Weekly 1898 10.Reader's Digest English Monthly 1869 ( Source : agencyfaqs) Although IRS is used by most of the media planners, there are always some controversy surrounding the results. Since this is a sample based results, one can always question the statistical inferences. Every time the survey results are out, there are bound to be objections and blaming. To counter IRS, another survey is also there in the readership domain i.e National Readership Survey ( NRS).Combining both the results help media planners to chose the right media across markets. But all these surveys give only approximations. There is no guarantee that a 100 cc ad at the front page of the best daily in India can deliver the desired results. Hence marketers invent a new term : Opportunity to See ( OTS).. By putting an ad in the front page you are giving the reader an opportunity to see the ad .. how wise.

What is the front page ad of today's newspaper? Do you remember?.........

Labels: As I see It, market stat, Marketing Fundamentals, Media,Ujala Indian Readership Survey released its Q4 data of 2010 a few days back. The fieldwork for this round (IRS10 Q4) was from October 2009 to October 2010. It has a sample size of 2.41 lakh individuals (12 years+), out of which 1.62 lakh are from urban and 0.79 lakh from rural areas, residing in 1,410 towns, 3,360 villages. The survey includes 451 publications in 13 languages, 200 editions, 317 TV channels and 60 radio channels. Estimated individuals are 88.1 crore, while estimated households are 23.4 crore. Besides the usual debate on the methodology of measuring readership of dailies or magazines or TR/AIR argument, there are some other interesting areas to focus on. The estimated individuals have increased from 87.62 crore in IRS10 Q3 to 88.1 crore in IRS10 Q4. This has been derived on the basis of decennial growth rate as reflected in the Census data.

Overall media reach through conventional media in India is still hovering around 64.7 per cent (64.4 per cent in Q3 & 64 per cent in Q2). In spite of all the technological advances, even today, two out of every five Indians are not reachable by any conventional media. TV reach is the highest. TV ownership has increased from 49.3

per cent in Q110 to 52.4 per cent in Q410, but interestingly, TV reach has not kept pace with it. This is a sign of the growing economy. It is also indicating the gradual increase of nuclear families requiring more TV sets leading relatively to a lesser increase in TV reach (at least once a week). The viewership marginally fell during late evening prime time (711 pm), while slightly increased during early evening prime time (4-7 pm).

C&S household numbers have jumped QoQ from 8.26 crore in Q110 to 9.76 crore in Q410, that is, 18 per cent growth in just 12 months. The growth is mainly coming from rural India. While 23.3 per cent of rural HH had C&S in Q110, it is now 29.2 per cent in Q410. In absolute numbers, C&S Household number in rural India increased by 1 crore in last 12 months, which is more than double than that of urban India. It is now evident that with the declining Non C&S households, Doordarshan is getting marginalised. It is DTH which is driving the growth of television today. If we consider Total Readership, then Press reach is 38.9 per cent. The average time spent (in a working day) for reading newspaper or periodicals remains same, that is, 31 minutes for last 3 quarters. But the average time spend listening to radio (at least once a week) has slightly increased in Q4, it is now 80 minutes against 77 minutes in last two quarters (in a working day). The place of listening to radio is changing. It is getting skewed towards the work place and on travel. This round of IRS has also come up with data of possible devices used to listening to radio. It clearly shows that after radio/ music system it is the mobile phone which is used most to listen to radio.

Unlike Press & Radio, Internet is growing rapidly. The reach of Internet has grown by 27 per cent from Q1 to Q4. Out of 2.43 crore users of Internet, 1.85 crore use it regularly (at least once in a week). Regular usage is very high allowing quick reach build up. Access to Internet is still highest from the cyber cafs, but now it is increasing rapidly in mobiles. (Refer table below)

Although Internet penetration is very low in rural India compared to that of urban, it is growing. In absolute numbers, rural India added about 16 lakh Internet users in Q410 over Q110.

Lets have a closer look at readership figures: Dainik Jagran managed to remain at No. 1 for the last couple of rounds. The vernacular dailies are dominating the top 10 list of dailies, except The Times of India, which is the only English daily to make a dent in the top 10 list of dailies. Rajasthan Patrika has come up one position, replacing Daily Thanthi, which was No. 8 in Q3 and Rajasthan Patrika was No. 9. Rest of the dailies has managed to keep its position. Maximum growth has come for Hindustan (6 per cent), followed by Dainik Bhaskar (4 per cent) & The Times of India (2 per cent). Lokmat, Rajasthan Patrika, Daily Thanthi & Mathrubhumi lost their readership over Q3. The loss is highest for Daily Thanthi (3 per cent). In absolute numbers, Hindustan and Dainik Bhaskar added 6 lakh and 5 lakh readers, respectively. In fact, in Total Readership, Hindustan swapped its position with Dainik Bhaskar and became No. 2 with a readership of 3.51 crore against 3.39 crore of Dainik Bhaskar. The scenario for magazines is a bit different. Pratiyogita Darpan replaced Saras Salil in AIR, while Saras Salil is the highest read magazine in TR data. Malayala Manorama (weekly) has shown the highest growth over Q3 (9 per cent). Only three magazines have gained/ retained readership Malayala Manorama (9 per cent), Pratiyogita Darpan (3 per cent), Vanitha (Mal) (0 per cent). If we look at the top four metros, it is The Times of India which is present in the list of top 5 dailies of all the four metros (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai). In Delhi+NCR, Hindustan Times has left behind The Times of India, though both added 51,000 and 32,000 readers, respectively. But in the financial capital of India, The Times of India has kept its No. 1 position. Gujarat Samachar has replaced Mumbai Mirror and become the third highest read daily in Mumbai. This indicates that after English and Marathi, Gujarati language controls Mumbai market. In Kolkata and Chennai, the vernacular dailies are most preferred to English dailies. Ananda Bazar Patrika and Daily Thanthi are the distant No. 1 in Kolkata and Chennai, respectively. But except Dinakaran, all top dailies in Chennai lost their readership. However, in Kolkata, except Ananda Bazar Patrika all other dailies gained readership. The sole readership of vernacular dailies is higher than that of English dailies, which translates to the fact that a reader who reads an English daily is more likely to go for a vernacular daily as his second choice, while a reader who reads a vernacular daily has lesser affinity towards an English daily as his second choice. Coming to business dailies in India, The Economic Times is the highest read English daily with a readership of 7.97 lakh. Although Mint is the distant No. 2 (1.99 lakh readers), it added 20,000 new readers in this Quarter. Business Standard (Hindi) grew the most (19 per cent) in Q4 and its readership rose to 68,000.

The English daily readership (AED) is growing in Hindi speaking market. In Q310, AED readership in Uttar Pradesh was 4.3 per cent of total AED readership, which has become 4.5 per cent in Q410. Although percentage wise the number looks small, but in absolute numbers it has increased by 50,000 readers. In fact, two other language dominated markets, Bihar and West Bengal added 37,000 and 31,000 more readers in AED readership, respectively. To sum it up, still about 35 per cent of India is not reached by conventional mass media. TV is driving reach and it continues to grow. Non C&S TV HHs are declining (22.4 per cent in Q3 to 20.1 per cent in Q4) and C&S TV HHs are growing rapidly QoQ (77.6 per cent in Q3 to 79.9 per cent in Q4), even in rural India. Its The Times of India which is present in the top 5 dailies list of all four metros (in AIR). Sole readership of vernacular dailies is very high compared to that of English dailies. The average time spent listening to radio (at least once a week) has increased in Q4. It is now 80 minutes against 77 minutes in the last two quarters (in a working day). The place of listening is getting skewed towards the work place and on travel. After radio/ music system it is the mobile phone which is being used more often to listen to radio. Internet is growing rapidly. Regular usage is very high, allowing quick reach build up. Access to Internet is still highest from the cyber cafs, but now it is increasing rapidly in mobiles. [Srabantika Basak (Neogi) is Media Manager at RK Swamy Media Group.]

National Readership Survey (NRS) (research on various media) Brought out first in 1971, the NRS was conducted to yield readership data instead of circulation data. The second NRS was published in 1978; the third in 1983, the fourth in 1990, fifth in 1994, 1995 and NRS VI had also come to the market in the early 1998.

NRS VI has the distinction of being an industry survey as it is sponsored by publishing advertisers and advertising agencies. The aims of the NRS among others are the following: To provide information that can be used for buying and selling of advertising space in the print media. To provide media users with data on comparative levels vis--vis TV/radio, cinema and video. The NRS covers readership estimates for various selected publications, viewership of TV, video and

cinema, listenership ratio, duplication between publications and inter-media duplications.

For the first time, the NRS provides the distribution of households by social classes, according to the new SEC developed by the Market Research Society of India. This system is based on the occupation and education of the chief wage earner of the household, so as to create an alternative to the household income, so far used as the basis of classifying households. The NRS has covered urban areas except for the states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Punjab. The universe of NRS VI is now a resident of urban Indian of age 15+. It covered 590 towns, classified into respective population strata based on the 1981 Census (Over 40 lakh base metros; 10-40 lakhs mini metros; 1-10 lakhs and below 1 lakh). A stratified multi-stage sampling procedure was used for the survey. Administrative districts constituted the primary stratum for sampling. All the towns with over 2-lakh population, those with publication centers of dailies in the district were included purposely. The rest were a predetermined number of towns within a district selected using PPS methodology (Probability Proportional to Population Size of each town). The selection of respondents for the survey was made using a two-step procedure. A sample of voters was drawn from the electoral rolls in clusters of a predetermined size; then those addresses were selected, where voters who were currently or formerly residing. The adults of these households participated in the readership interviews. Although the survey was urban in nature, 140 villages in Kerala were included (Kerala as we know is a 100 percent literate state and is also a center of some of the highly circulated publications). The selection of publications was finalized by a committee, which comprised a cross-section of media planners and media directors from leading advertising agencies. The publications were selected on the basis of the Minimum Circulation Criterion. The measurement criterion of readership was ascertained using the Masthead method. A booklet which had the reproductions of mastheads of various publications was used for aided recall of respondents. The average issue readership of a publication was estimated by determining the number of respondents who read any issue within a specified time interval = publication interval, i.e., daily, yesterday, weekly-7 days, fortnightly-14 days, monthly-4 weeks.

How does NRS help a media planner? The NRS establishes a product-consumer profile linkage; consumption and ownership pattern among various target segments and their preferences, number of hours devoted in media. NRS provides segment wise readership surveys and overall size of each segment.