Kochi: Kerala’s formidable media group Mathrubhumi witnessed record growth in the number of readers, according to IRS (Indian Readership Survey), amongst the two main publications in Malayalam, Mathrubhumi has achieved the highest growth. According to the report of the first quarter, IRS 2019, Mathrubhumi has got 11.22 lakh, additional readers. The total number of readers for Mathrubhumi reached 1.30 Crore.
The growth of Mathrubhumi within the time frame is 9.5 %, the other newspaper has a growth of 9.3% with this its ranking has surged to 11th spot in the country in AIR list. Mathrubhumi is the 4th largest circulated regional language newspaper, even in digital media, it has shown an incredible growth among the young readers aged between 20-49 yrs. has shown a growth of 9 % with an addition of 6.6 lakh readers. In terms of male and female classification of readers, the newspaper has about 7.55 lakh Male readers (12%) and 3.7 lakh of female readers (6.6%). In the New Consumer Classification System (NCCS AB) Mathrubhumi achieved 10 % growth with an additional 8 lakh readers.
An Upward trend in Periodicals
The survey findings also illustrates that the periodicals published by Mathrubhumi have achieved commendable growth in the time period considered in the survey. Mathrubhumi periodicals has shown growth rate in readership such as Minnaminni – 55 % ( A weekly in Malayalam for kids), Star & Style – 42% ( Magazine covering film, fashion, and lifestyle), Yathra – 40 % ( Travel magazine), Mathurbhumi Azhchapathippu ( Mathrubhumi Illustrated Weekly) – 21% , Sports Masika – 19 % ( sport magazine), Arogyamasika – 18 % ( covers health), Thohzhilvartha – 17 % ( employment paper), and Grihalakshmi – 15 % ( exclusive magazine for women of Kerala).
Arogyamasika retained the top spot in the list of health magazines published in India, three of the first ten language publications in India belongs to Mathrubhumi.
The IRS Q1 2019 data released by the Media Research Users Council ( MRUC) showed dailies adding 1.8 crore additional readers since IRS 2017 and magazines increasing readership by 90 Lakh together taking the total number of readers in the country up from 40.7 cr to an impressive 42.5 crore. According to the survey India has 384 Mn active internet universe.
