The
Times of India is now the No. 1 English daily in six of India's eight biggest metros and a strong second in the other two. The Indian Readership Survey 2017 confirms that TOI has dethroned The Hindu in Chennai and The Telegraph in Kolkata as the most read paper. At an all-India level, TOI's reach (average issue readership) of 48 lakh is more than the combined reach (42 lakh) of the second and third biggest English dailies. (Once data for Haryana and Orissa is released, TOI's reach will see a further expansion.)
In
Greater Mumbai and Delhi-NCR, TOI's combined readership of 21.4 lakh makes it the most read English daily. With 80% of all TOI readers nationally belonging to SEC (socio-economic category) A, it caters to the cream of Indian society, the survey reveals.
Two other
Times Group publications β The Economic Times and Mumbai Mirror -β are among the five most read English dailies in India with readership figures of 8.8 lakh and 6.6 lakh respectively.
Overall, the IRS figures show that English and language dailies have added 11 crore readers in the last three years, suggesting that predictions of print being a dying medium are misplaced in India.
The language publications of the Times Group also have a dominant presence in their key markets.
Navbharat Times is by far the most read Hindi paper in Delhi-NCR, with a readership of 14.2 lakh, about 40% more than its closest competitor. Similarly, Maharashtra Times with a readership of 6.9 lakh in Mumbai and Thane is about 40% ahead of its nearest rival. Vijaya Karnataka's readership of 6 lakh in Bangalore puts it in a league of its own.
The combined average issue readership of the Times Group's English dailies (taking care to exclude duplications) is 57.9 lakh β which is half of all English dailies put together. The combined unduplicated readership for the group's English dailies is a staggering 80% higher than the second-placed media house.
