With three out of the top five Hindi dailies in Himachal Pradesh seeing negative readership trends in IRS 2011 Q1, the average issue readership (AIR) of ‘Any Hindi’ daily rests at 8.77 lakh, down from 9.23 lakh last year. Meanwhile, popularity of English dailies has also declined in the state as ‘Any English’ daily registered an AIR of 65,000, a fall of 2.99 per cent.
With positive trend in the recent IRS results, Amar Ujala has added 33,000 readers, recording an AIR of 4.34 lakh in the state in IRS 2011 Q1. Punjab Kesari, however, has degrown by 1.35 per cent, reporting an AIR of 3.65 lakh. With a growth of 39.10 per cent and adding 52,000 readers, Divya Himachal is the fastest growing newspaper in the state. The daily has reported an AIR of 1.85 lakh in the latest quarter of IRS. Meanwhile, the performance of Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagran has suffered in the state with both witnessing a fall in their AIR of 28.92 per cent and 57.14 per cent, respectively.
The Tribune, despite a fall of 6 per cent in its readership, has garnered an AIR of 47,000, the highest among English dailies in Himachal Pradesh. Both Hindustan Times and The Times of India are strengthening their footprints in the state as their AIR grows by 18.18 per cent and 42.86 per cent, respectively. English business newspaper the Economic Times has reported an AIR of 4,000, but has seen a decline of 20 per cent.
