Top 15 Newspapers in India

Sr. No Newspaper Name Readership

numbers
1 Dainik Jagran 54,254,000
2 Dainik Bhasker 33,432,000
3 Hindustan (local) 29,411,000
4 Amar Ujala 28,720,000
5 Lokmat 23,276,000
6 Daily Thanti 20,305,000
7 Dinakaran 16,741,000
8 Ananda Bazar Patrika 15,318,000
9 Eenadu 14,726,000
10 Rajasthan Patrika 14,205,000
11 The Times of India 13,447,000
12 Hindustan Times 6,254,000
13 The Hindu 5,140,000
14 The Telegraph 2,877,000
15 Deccan Chronicle 2,816,000

Here is an interesting take on these numbers: If you count all these numbers they come close to
230 million (in top 15) readership. Putting together all others (I count approx. 20 million), we
land up with a very rough readership of 250 million. Now remember, readership is not same as
circulation, which may be quite low.

So we have around 25% penetration of newspaper considering a population of 1 billion.

1)Dainik Jagran leads the overall dailies and Hindi dailies lists, according to quarterly Indian
Readership Survey by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).

According to the IRS Q1 2010, Dainik Jagran ranks No. 1 among the dailies with a Total
Readership (TR) of 54,254,000. In the last round (R2, 2009), it had gained around 200,000
readers, but in this round it has lost around 500,000 readers.

Dainik Jagran was founded in 1942 by the late Puran Chand Gupta, to 'create a newspaper that
would reflect the free voice of the people'. The first edition of Dainik Jagran was launched from
Jhansi.

Today, Dainik Jagran has 37 editions across eleven states. Run by the Jagran Prakashan Ltd, the
company's business spans across newspapers, Internet, magazines and mobile value added
services.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Jagran Prakashan finally bought out Mumbai's Mid-Day newspaper.

2)Dainik Bhaskar comes second with a readership of 33,432,000.  Established by the D B Corp
Ltd, the newspaper is present in 9 states with 27 editions.

D B Corp publishes 7 newspapers, 48 newspaper editions and 128 sub-editions in three

languages (Hindi, Gujarati and English) across 11 states in India.

The company's newspapers include Dainik Bhaskar, (Hindi), Divya Bhaskar and Saurashtra
Samachar, (Gujarati). Other newspapers are Business Bhaskar, DB Gold and DB Star and DNA
(in Gujarat and Rajasthan). Dainik Bhaskar added around 400,000 total readers in the current
round. It had lost 590,000 readers in the previous round of the survey.
3)Hindustan comes in third with a readership of 29,411,000. Run by Hindustan Media
Ventures Ltd, it is a subsidiary of HT Media Ltd.

HT Media started in 1924 when its flagship newspaper, Hindustan Times, was inaugurated by
Mahatma Gandhi. HT Media is today one of India's largest media companies.

The Hindi daily has added around 1.4 million readers in the current round. It has 11 editions.
Shobhana Bhartia is the chairperson and editorial director of HT Media.

4)Amar Ujala stands at the fourth position with a readership of 28,720,000. Amar Ujala was
launched on April 18, 1948 from Agra.

It is a leading newspaper in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu &

Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi. Amar Ujala also offers four magazines. In the
current survey, the paper has lost around 300,000 readers.
5)The Marathi daily Lokmat comes at the fifth position with a readership of 23,276,000.
Lokmat is also the highest read regional daily. 

Lokmat was conceptualised and started by Loknayak Bapuji Aney to fight against the British
imperialism during the freedom movement of India. It first started as a handwritten newspaper
from Yavatmal, a town in Maharashtra. 

The late Jawaharlal Darda took over this fortnightly published newspaper in 1953. Jawaharlal
Nehru formally inaugurated Lokmat as a daily publication at Yavatmal in 1958. On December
15, 1971, the first full-fledged edition was started from Nagpur.

The newspaper which added about 1 million readers in the previous two rounds has added
100,000 readers in the current round. Today, the paper has editions in Hindi and English.
6)The Tamil newspaper Daily Thanthi is ranked 6th with a total readership of 20,305,000.
Owned by Sivanthi Athithan, it was the first daily newspaper in southern India at the time of the
Indian freedom struggle. It was established by Adithanar, a pioneer in the media industry of
Tamil Nadu.

7 )Dinakaran is ranked 7th among the most read newspapers in India. It received a TR of
16,741,000. Owned by Kalanidhi Maran, Dinakaran is a leading Tamil daily newspaper in India
with 12 editions.
8)The Ananda Bazar Patrika stands at the 8th position with a total readership of 15,318,000.
Started as an evening paper in March 1922, Ananda Bazar Patrika soon grew to become the
'voice of Bengal'. It is the only Bengali daily to cross 1.5 million in circulation.

Ananda Bazar Patrika has two editions from Calcutta and Mumbai. In addition, it has seven
district splits within West Bengal. In 1922, Ananda Bazar Patrika first came out as a four-page
evening daily that sold at two paise and had a circulation of about 1,000 copies a day.

The ABP Group, which owns the paper has eleven premier publications, three 24-hour national
TV news channels and two leading book publishing businesses as well as mobile and internet
properties.
9) Eenadu, a Telugu newspaper, is in fifth position among regional language players with a TR
of 14,726,000, it is the 9th most read paper in India. Founded by the Indian media baron Ramoji
Rao in 1974, it is the largest circulated news daily in Andhra Pradesh.
10)Rajasthan Patrika with a total readership of 14,205,000 is the 10th most read newspaper in India.
The 52-year-old Rajasthan Patrika started as an evening newspaper with a borrowed capital of Rs 500.
Today, it has grown as the fastest growing media conglomerates in India. Rajsthan Patrika established in
1956, is the fifth most-read Hindi daily in India.

11) The Times of India which tops the English dailies chart is the 11th most read across all
languages. Owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co, it is the flagship company of The Times Group,
which has been in existence for 150 years.

The Times Group's business spans across newspapers and magazines, television broadcasting,
running internet portals, creating and distributing multimedia products and music publishing and
retailing. The media conglomerate is headed by brothers Samir and Vineet Jain.

The group has five dailies, two magazines, 29 niche magazines.  Founded in 1838 as The
Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, it changed its name to The Times of India in 1861.

Among English dailies, The Times of India has received a TR of 13,447,000, which puts it at No.
1 spot. However, it has lost about 85,000 readers in the current round.   However, The Times of
India continues to be the leader in Mumbai, followed by Mumbai Mirror.
12) Hindustan Times is the second most read English daily and the 12th among all newspapers
with a total  readership of 6,254,000.

In Delhi, Hindustan Times tops among English dailies and is well ahead of The Times of India.
According to the Average Issue Readership of Hindustan Times in Delhi stands at 2,012,000,
while The Times of India comes second with an AIR of 1,948,000.

HT Media also publishes a national business newspaper, Mint with an exclusive agreement with
the Wall Street Journal to publish WSJ-branded news and information in India.
13) The Hindu is ranked third among English dailies with a total readership of 5,140,000. In the
last two years, the daily has lost about 411,000 readers after it started facing competition from
Times of India and Deccan Chronicle in Chennai.

The Hindu which started off as a weekly in 1878, became a daily newspaper from 1889. The
Hindu is based in Chennai with thirteen editions.

The first issue of The Hindu was published on 20 September, 1878, by a group of six young men,
led by G. Subramania Aiyer, a social reformer and school teacher.
14) The Telegraph is ranked fourth with a total readership 2,877,000. The Telegraph has moved
up from its fifth position with an addition of 77,000 readers.

The Telegraph was launched on the 7 July, 1982, by the ABP group of publications. Over 26
years, The Telegraph has become the largest circulated English daily in the eastern region
published from Kolkata.
The Telegraph is also published from Guwahati, Siliguri, Jamshedpur, and Ranchi.

15) Deccan Chronicle follows at No. 5 among English dailies with a total readership of
2,816,000. Deccan Chronicle has editions in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The paper established in Hyderabad in 1938 is owned by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd. The
group is managed by brothers, Venkatram Reddy and T Vinayak Ravi Reddy. The group also
owns IPL franchisee, Deccan Chargers. The company has a business daily called Financial
Chronicle and a majority stake in Asian Age newsaper.

The Economic Times is at the 6th position while The New Indian Express is at No7 among
English dailies. The last three in the top 10 list of English dailies are: Mid-Day, Mumbai Mirror
and DNA.
Magazines

According to IRS 2010 Q1 data, which was released on Tuesday, May 4, 2010, top 20 magazines
in India show no major signs of growth in their AIR (Average Issue Readership).

1) The quarterly data shows that Malayalam fortnightly magazine Vanitha continues to
remain the most widely read magazine in India.

2) Saras Salil (Hindi), another fortnightly magazine, is the second most widely read
magazine in India. While it may not be fair to compare a quarterly data with that of half
yearly data, nevertheless as compared to IRS 2009 R2, wherein Vanitha had received an
AIR of 29,00,000, in IRS 2010 Q1 the magazine sees a 4.66 per cent rise in its AIR to
30,35,000. Saras Salil, on the other hand, received an AIR of 2,209,000 in IRS 2010 Q1
as compared to 2,167,000 in IRS 2009 R2, an increase of 1.94 per cent.

3) India Today, the English weekly, received an AIR of 1,788,000 in IRS 2010 Q1 as
compared to 1,878,000 in IRS 2009 R2, a decline of 4.79 per cent.

4) The fourth most popular magazine in terms of AIR is monthly magazine Pratiyogita
Darpan, which has received an AIR of 1,742,000 in IRS 2010 Q1 as against to 1,676,000
in the previous round, an increase of 3.94 per cent.

5) Malayala Manorama sees a double digit decline of 10.94 per cent in its AIR from
1,609,000 in IRS 2009 R2 to 1,433,000 in IRS 2010 Q1.

6) Balarama, which ranks sixth among the top 20 magazines, is another Malayalam weekly
magazine to see a decline in AIR from 1,507,000 in IRS 2009 R2 to 1,388,000 in IRS
2010 Q1, down 7.90 per cent.

7) Ranked seventh is India Today (Hindi), which has received an AIR of 1,311,000 in IRS
2010 Q1, as compared to 1,398,000 in the latest round, a decline of 6.22 per cent.

8) Readers Digest, too, sees a decline in AIR of 3.57 per cent from 1,317,000 in IRS 2009
R2 to 1,270,000 in IRS 2010 Q1.
 10) Monthly magazine Meri Saheli is ranked 10th with an AIR of 1,267,000, up 2.92 per
cent from 1,267,000 in IRS 2010 Q1.

11) Hindi fortnightly Grih Shobha, on the other hand, sees a drop of 6.44 per cent in its AIR
to 1,235,000 in IRS 2010 Q1 from 1,320,000 in IRS 2009 R2.

12) Ranked 12th is Cricket Samrat with an AIR of 1,194,000 as against 1,146,000 in IRS
2009 R2, a growth of 4.19 per cent.

13) Malayalam monthly magazine Mathrubhumi Arogya Masika has witnessed a double
digit growth of 11.16 per cent in its AIR. It has received an AIR of 1,165,000 in the latest
round of IRS, as compared to 1,048,000 in IRS 2009 R2.

14) Grehlakshmi has witnessed a marginal growth of 1.07 per cent in AIR from 1,121,000 in
IRS 2009 R2 to 1,133,000 in IRS 2010 Q1.

15) Ananda Vikatan follows at No. 15 with an AIR of 1,061,000 in IRS 2010 Q1, as
compared to 1,201,000 in the previous round, a drop of 11.66 per cent.

16) General Knowledge Today sees a decline of 6.81 per cent in its AIR from 1,072,000 in
IRS 2009 R2 to 999,000 in IRS 2010 Q1.

17) Mathrubhumi Thozhil Vartha is ranked 17th with a marginal increase of 0.52 per cent
in its AIR at 960,000 from 955,000 in IRS 2009 R2.

18) Tamil weekly magazine Kungumam has received an AIR of 951,000 in IRS 2010 Q1 as
compared to 914,000 in IRS 2009 R2, an increase of 4.05 per cent.

19) Nirogdham and 20) Champak (Hindi) are ranked 19 and 20, respectively. While
Nirogdham has received an AIR of 869,000 (877,000 in IRS 2009 R2), Champak has
witnessed a growth of 3.50 per cent in its AIR from 799,000 in IRS 2009 R2 to 827,000
in IRS 2010 Q1.

Overall, while the top two magazines - Vanitha and Saras Salil - have witnessed growth in its
AIR, Mathrubhumi Arogya Masika has emerged as the fastest growing magazine in IRS 2010
Q1.
Top 10 Hindi Dailies
 

Top 10 Hindi Magazines

Top 10 English Dailies

Top 10 English Magazines

Top 10 Language Dailies

 

Top 10 Language Magazines

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