Anomalies in IRS 2013

Gross anomalies are found in the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2013 conducted by AC Nielsen and released by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC). Some leading publishers like the Times of India, Anand Bazaar Patrika, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, The Hindu, India Today Group, Lokmat, Amar Ujala, Malayala Manorama, Tribune and Outlook, have strongly condemned the recently released IRS 2013. According to them, the survey is riddled with shocking anomalies, defying all logic and common sense and completely ignores circulation -- the very basis of readership. They say the survey grossly contradicts Audit Bureau of Circulation figures (ABC). Some of the anomalies pointed out by them are ? Wild swings in newspaper readership across states. While Punjab has lost one-third of all its readers in a year since the last IRS, Haryana’s has grown by 17%. ? Every major newspaper in Andhra Pradesh, irrespective of language, has fallen by 30 to 65%. ? Wild swings at the city level. Mumbai shows a 20.3% growth in overall English readership. Delhi (a faster growing city overall on all macro indices) shows a drop of 19.5%. ? Hitavada, the leading English newspaper of Nagpur with a certified circulation of over 60,000, doesn’t appear to have a single reader now! ? The Hindu Business Line has thrice as many readers in Manipur as in Chennai!! ? Patrika added a whopping 138% readers on a base of 2 million readers as per the last IRS survey. In other words, it added 2.5 million readers in Madhya Pradesh in a year without adding one single edition. ? In Kanpur, Hindustan has more than 10 readers per copy against the leader, which has just 2.6 readers per copy, on the basis of the last ABC figures. The group of publishers have made a strong case to MRUC to withdraw the results of IRS 2013 and stop all future editions of the survey. (Source: DNA and Times of India, February 1, 2014)