Mumbai: The print media giants Hindustan Times (HT) and Times of India (TOI) are combating each other over the leadership in Delji NCR and Greater Mumbai that are considered as one of the largest money spinning markets in India, in-terms of ad-spend. It also has over taken ‘The Tribune’ in Punjab to emerge as the leader in that Market too.
It all started with TOI’s claims of being the No.1 News Paper in Delhi NCR and Greater Mumbai (adding the AIR of Thane, Vasai, Virar with Mumbai) using the preliminary data of IRS 2017 that did not include the readership of Faridabad and Gurgoan. IRS authorities withheld the data of those two sectors due to technical issues.
In its advertisements claiming leadership in Delhi NCR and Greater Mumbai, TOI has claimed Average Issues Readership (AIR) of 2137 Readership (000s) against 2115 Readership (000s) of Hindustan Times and also accused the later of including the numbers of Variants that according to TOI have no consequences for the advertiser.
However, when the IRS 2017 released the data of Gurgaon and Faridabad, the data had swung in favor of Hindustan Times, making it as the undisputed leader of the Delhi NCR and Greater Mumbai market in all aspects that includes Main issue and Main + Variants.
Based on the latest and updated figures of IRS 2017 that includes Gurgaon and Faridabad, Dismissing the claims made by Times of India, HT Media has exposed the reality facts which demonstrate unquestionable leadership of Hindustan Times in markets of Delhi + Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Punjab.
HT is a clear #1 in Delhi NCR + Mumbai.
On the basis of the Average Issue Readership with or without Variants. The numbers are indisputable basis the recently released IRS results. Even if we include Greater Mumbai regions – Thane, Vasai and Virar – HT stands tall with readership of 28.79 lakh, ahead of TOI’s 25.95 lakh.
| ENGLISH READERSHIP – AIR (lakh) | ||
| Readership in Lacs | MAIN | MAIN with Variants |
| DELHI NCR + MUMBAI | ||
| Hindustan Times | 24.3 | 28.5 |
| Times of India | 22.4 | 25.3 |
| HT’s Rank | # 1 | # 1 |
| DELHI NCR + MUMBAI + Thane + Vasai + Virar | ||
| Hindustan Times | 24.49 | 28.79 |
| Times of India | 22.94 | 25.95 |
| HT’s Rank | # 1 | # 1 |
The leadership in IRS 2017 comes as no surprise as HT has been #1 in Delhi-NCR for the past 15 rounds.
Moreover, In Delhi-NCR, HT is well ahead of TOI on AIR with (or) without variants. As the data shows that HT’s Readership stands at 20.2 lakh against TOI’s 13.7 lakh as shared below.
HT is also a clear #1 in Gurgaon – one of the most premium markets of the country.
| ENGLISH READERSHIP –AIR (lakh) | ||
| Readership in Lacs | MAIN | MAIN with Variants |
| DELHI + NCR | ||
| Hindustan Times | 16.7 | 20.2 |
| Times of India | 11.9 | 13.7 |
| HT’s Rank | #1 | #1 |
| Gurgaon | ||
| Hindustan Times | 2.15 | 2.68 |
| Times of India | 1.19 | 1.34 |
| HT’s Rank | # 1 | # 1 |
The story continues in Punjab. HT dethrones Tribune on the same Readership measure and is significantly ahead of TOI.
| ENGLISH READERSHIP – AIR (lakh) | ||
| Readership in Lacs | MAIN | MAIN with Variants |
| Punjab | ||
| Hindustan Times | 2.5 | 2.7 |
| The Tribune | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Times of India | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| HT’s Rank | # 1 | # 1 |
“Hindustan Times has always believed in focusing on credible, unbiased journalism for its readers and advertisers. These results are only a testament of their unflinching support in critical markets where HT operates.” Said the Stamen issued by HT Media
It may be noted that IRS 2017 has introduced this new method of measuring the Readership of the newspapers in two forms, first one with Main edition and the second being Main + Varians. The Nature of Readership was also measured in two formats, the first one being the Total Readership (TR) and Average Issues Readership (AIR), wherein AIR is treated as more relevant to Advertisers.
