IRS 2009 R1: ‘Readership surveys not geared to capture true readership of magazines’

The IRS 2009 R1 data paints a gloomy picture for the English magazines, which have continued with the decline trend seen in IRS 2008 R2. In a bid to understand this decline in readership numbers exchange4media spoke with some leading magazine publishers. This is what they had to say.

Like last year, the magazine readership issue has evoked various debates in the industry. One of the most vocal points made by magazine publishers is that magazines as a genre differ on various grounds from dailies. This is one reason why the measurement for magazines should take the difference into cognizance, unlike the current prevalent structure of one-size-fits-all.

In IRS 20008 R2, the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) had initiated dialogue with the Indian Newspapers Society (INS) to work together on various aspects, magazines measurement. There has yet been no introduction on the new methodology for the measurement of magazines.

Maheshwer Peri, Publisher and President, Outlook Group, said, “The current readership survey has again failed to capture certain category of readers, whose access is becoming difficult for the kind of surveyors we employ. You just have to look at the business genre to understand this phenomenon. If we believe the current survey, then most business magazines have dropped to a third of what they were 5-7 years back. The readership of Business Standard is less than its circulation last year. This year, Outlook Money’s readership is less than its circulation. Their failure to reach out, access and capture this genre of readers, which is SEC A+, is the prime cause of the fall in these readerships.”

According to Ashish Bagga, CEO, India Today Group, “The IRS survey is incapable finding the correct readership for magazines. Till the time they do not change the methodology, we will have to bear the brunt of incorrect results. MRUC had admitted that work had to be done on various aspects of magazines measurement, but nothing has happened so far.”

Jacob Mathew, Executive Editor, Malayala Manorama, noted, “Unfortunately, readership surveys are not geared to capture the true readership of magazines, especially English magazines, as their readership is spread across the country, and unless we have sufficient samples, we will end up with wrong estimates. For instance, we see very high volatility in readership in certain markets that is not in tune with the actual distribution of magazines. One of the recent trends in magazines is the shift in distribution of the magazines.”

He further said, “It is mostly subscription driven now and this curtails the pass along readership to a great extent. ‘The Week’ has been growing continuously in the last few ABC periods. However, this is not reflected in the readership estimates. Having said that, ‘The Week’ has registered the least marginal drop amongst the general interest English magazines, both in absolute number and percentage.”

Commenting on the decline in English magazine readership, Anita Nayyar, CEO, MPG Asia Pacific, said, “There are two reasons why there has been decline in the readership of magazines: one, given that there is so much fragmentation in the magazines itself that the readership is bound to see a dip. The other is that it is tough to get TV viewers to indulge in the habit of leisure reading. Also, I feel for magazines like India Today or Outlook, a few thousand points here or there does not make too much of a difference.”