Mumbai : The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) data released for Jan to June 2018 has given a clear picture of the highest circulated vernacular member newspapers as certified upto 30th November, 2018. The list includes14 regional languages of India such as Asaamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Hindi as usual dominated the chart of Circulation share among languages with 38.7% share that amounts to 2.33 Cr copies against 18.4% share of English clocking 1.1 Cr copies. With 61.5 lac copies Malayalam stood at No. 3 with 10.3% circulation share and Telugu occupied fourth place with 7.4%. Bengali Newspapers clocked 5.8% share, Marathi followed with 5.1% while Kannada and Tamil Newspaper circulation share stood at 4.5 % and 4.4% respectively. Gujarati Newspapers garnered 1.8% share with 10.5 lac copies.
Hindi
The Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, which is a leader across languages also leads the segment with 43 lakhs copies of circulation during the period of Jan – Jul 2018 against its circulation of 41 lakhs copies during Jul – Dec 2017, this however does not include its circulation in Gaya and Patna edition which are “under considerations”. Following the leader is its closest rival, Jagran Prakashan Ltd owned Hindi daily Dainik Jagran with a decline of near about 2 lakhs copies circulation in the current period against the previous period taken into consideration. Further it is worth mentioning that Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagran are the No.1 and No.2 most circulated dailies across languages. HT Media owned Hindi daily Hindustan newspaper becomes the 3rd largest circulated Hindi daily in the segment with a circulation of 26 lakhs copies, which happens to be the 4th most circulated daily in the overall list. Amar Ujala and Punjab Kesari ranks stand at the 4th and 5th slots in the segment with 26 lakhs and 12 lakhs copies of circulation respectively.
English
Among the English dailies the Times of India which is the 3rd largest circulated daily across languages, happens to be the leader of the English newspapers category with 28 lakhs copies circulation. Followed by The Hindu newspaper with 13lakh copies circulation during the current period against 15 Lakhs copies circulation in the previous period. HT Media owned English daily stands 3rd in the list with 10 Lakhs copies circulation. ABP Group owned newspaperThe Telegraph with 4 Lakhs copies circulation, occupies the 4th place in the category, though it failed to feature in the top 20 circulated list of dailies for the current period. Bennet Coleman’s another English newspaper The Economic Times ranked the 5th place with 3 Lakhs copies circulation .
Tamil
Taking a look at the Tamil dailies, the data reveals that Chennai based Daily Thanthi becomes the highest circulated Tamil newspaper with 15 Lakhs copies circulation in the present year against its circulation of 16 Lakhs copies the previous period. Dinamalar and The Hindu’s Tamil edition ” The Hindu Tamil are placed at the 2nd and 3rd places in the list with 8 Lakhs and 3 Lakhs copies circulation respectively.
Telugu
In the Telugu market, Eenadu becomes the topper of with 18 Lakhs copies of circulation for the period between Jan-Jun 2018 however it ranks the 7th place in the list across languages. Following the leader is the Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddyowned Telugu newspaper Sakshi with Lakhs copies of circulation and Andhra Jyoti newspaper with 7 Lakhs copies of circulation during the period Jan -Jul 2018.
Malayalam
The Malayalam language daily Malayala Manorama becomes the highest circulated Malayalam newspaper with 23 Lakhs copies of circulation, however it has witnessed a dip of 43 thousand copies against the previous period. The daily that tops the segment, ranks as No.6 in the overall chart of publications. Mathrubhumi happens to be Kerala’s second highest circulated daily with 14 Lakhs copies of circulation against its 15 Lakhs copies of circulation the previous year. The 3rd slot is occupied by Deshabimani with 6 Lakhs copies of circulation in the current year.
Kannada
The VRL Group owned Kannada newspaper Vijayavani becomes the No.1 circulated daily in the market with 7 Lakhs copies of circulation in the current year, which also is the only Kannada newspaper that features in the top 20 highest circulated dailies across languages. Following the leader is Vijay Karnataka and Prajavani in the 2nd and 3rd places with 7 Lakhs copies and 5 Lakhs copies of circulation in the current year.
Marathi
Pune based Sakal Media Group owned Daily Sakal is the highest circulated Marathi daily with 12 Lakhs copies of circulation happens to be the only Marathi newspaper that features in the overall list, followed by other Marathi dailies likePudhari, Loksatta and Tarun Bharat with 6 lakhs copies, 3lakhs copies and 15 Lakhs copies of circulation respectively.
Bengali
ABP Group owned Bengali newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika is the highest circulated vernacular in the segment, with 11 Lakhs copies of circulation, it also scores as the 14th highest circulated daily in the overall list in the current year. Bartaman , The Times Group owned Ei Samay Sangbadpatra. and Sangbad Pratidin stand as the 2nd , 3rd and 4th highest circulated vernaculars in the Bengali market with 6 Lakhs copies, 3 Lakhs copies and 3 Lakhs copies of circulation respectively in the current year.
Vernaculars of other languages like Assamese, Gujarati, Manipuri, Oriya, Punjabi and Urdu have also been evaluated by the ABC, out of the two Assamese dailies Asomiya Pratidin becomes the most circulated vernacular with a circulation of One Lakh copies against its circulation of 1.25 copies in the period of Jul – Dec 2017. Pride East Entertainment owned Niyomiya Barta newspaper which has enrolled itself as the member of ABC in the current period has recorded a circulation of 80 thousand copies. D B Corp Ltd owned Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar happens to be the only Guajarati vernacular to be placed in the overall list in the current period with a circulation of 8 Lakhs copies against its 7.7 Lakhs copies of circulation in the previous period. Mumbai Samacharwith 54 thousand copies of circulation ranks the second slot in the segment, followed by Saurashtra Samachar with 51 thousand copies of circulation for the current period.
Considering the Manipuri dailies, out of the two vernaculars, The Sangai Express with 61 thousand copies of circulation is followed by its competitor Poknapham with 60 thousand copies of circulation.Among the Oriya vernaculars Samaj tops the market with 3 Lakh copies of circulation against its circulation of 3.3 Lakh copies during the previous period.The Samaya is another Oriya daily with One Lakh copies circulation. The Punjabi daily Ajit leads the category with 4 Lakh copies of circulation during the current year, while Jag Bani settles as the second most circulated newspaper with 3 Lakh copies circulation.
Concluding the language wise circulation of dailies, Urdu newspaper The Munsif ranks No.1 in the segment with 58.8 thousand copies of circulation in the present period against its circulation of 59.5 thousand copies of circulation in the previous year. The Siasat Daily Urdu vernacular with 44 Lakhs copies circulation occupies the second slot in the list.
