Rs 12,000 crore is the advertising spend on newspapers and periodicals. Almost 80 per cent of this amount is spent by big media buying agencies with the help of automated media planning tools, which track the No. 1, 2 and 3 in each market and allocate 80 per cent of the spends to them. These rankings are decided by IRS stats. That is the weight of expectations that the IRS report carries. However, neither the archaic research methodology nor the pace of adaptation seems to suggest that the MRUC is taking this seriously.
I had written an article on this for exchange4media about a couple of years ago. I still get responses to that article from a varied cross section of the media industry, agreeing to what was written and calling (read ‘yelling’) for change. There would be very few examples across the globe of a report which is so important, being compiled in such lackadaisical manner.
The form for respondents is so thick that a normal person won’t have the time to respond to it (definitely not Mid-Day readers). No wonder, in my 10 years in the media industry, I haven’t come across one person who has filled an IRS response form. (I know people with 40 years in the media industry, and they too haven’t met anybody, so I am not that peeved!). A reader has to respond to umpteen other questions before he comes to the media consumption part. The way the research is conducted, the ground staff conducting the research (mostly temporary recruits), the quality of the respondents, who have so much time to respond to such lengthy questionnaires… all make it difficult to establish the media consumption trends in a credible way. It is even worse for an ‘out-of-home’ media product like Mid-Day, as most of the so called survey is conducted at homes.
Research methodologies need to constantly evolve and change with the paradigm shifts happening in an industry. However, MRUC has continued to make incremental and incidental changes to the research and statistical pattern. The INS is trying to revive the NRS to have a more pragmatic approach to findings on media consumption patterns. Till then, media consumption research will continue to be clubbed with hair oil and incense sticks consumption reports.
(Manajit Ghoshal is MD & CEO of Mid-Day Infomedia.)
Other Headlines on IRS
IRS research methodology still a concern for the industry
IRS Q2 2010: Growth story for newspaper and magazines in Uttar Pradesh; Dainik Jagran leads
IRS Q2 2010: Magazines see a close fight in Madhya Pradesh; mixed trend seen in the market
IRS Q2 2010: Some cheer for Thanthi and Dinakaran in Chennai
IRS Q2 2010: Magazines perform better than dailies in Bangalore market
IRS Q2 2010: Dailies do exceptionally well in Kolkata; magazines fail to keep pace
IRS Q2 2010: Magazines display strong growth potential in Andhra Pradesh
IRS Q2 2010: Most dailies, magazines witness slump in Kerala
IRS Q2 2010: In a case of reversals, dailies lose out in Himachal Pradesh; magazines do well
IRS Q2 2010: Poor results continue to haunt dailies in Jammu & Kashmir
The great IRS debate: Industry divided on single currency, but upbeat about proposed new agency
IRS Q2 2010: Publications in Maharashtra see some light
IRS Q2 2010: Positive fallout of Jharkhand print war – four out of top five dailies see growth
IRS Q2 2010: Hindi publications dominate Bihar market; magazines witness decline trend
IRS Q2 2010: Many gainers in Karnataka market; magazines reverse the decline trend
IRS Q2 2010: Publications in West Bengal do well with positive readership trends
IRS Q2 2010: Assam market looks grim for dailies and magazines; all see dip in AIR
IRS Q2 2010: TOI’s might continues in Mumbai; positive growth boosts other players too
IRS Q2 2010: Dismal shows for English magazines; numbers head south
IRS Q2 2010: Four of the top five Hindi magazines witness decline; Saras Salil maintains lead
IRS Q2 2010: Mixed reactions from South publishers; call for different pattern of estimation for magazines
IRS Q2 2010: English dailies show positive growth; TOI remains undisputed leader
IRS Q2 2010: Positive growth for Top 3 Hindi dailies in Delhi NCR; NBT leads
IRS Q2 2010: Hindi dailies witness several ups and down in Mumbai
IRS Q2 2010: Pecking order of Tamil publications remains intact despite decline in AIR
IRS Q2 2010: Top order remains unchanged for Marathi publications; dailies soar, but magazines despair
IRS Q2 2010: Kannada publications chalk up a growth story; double digit growth for 3 Kannada dailies
IRS Q2 2010: Four of Top 10 dailies see decline in AIR; no change in order seen among top 5 dailies; Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar lead again
IRS Q2 2010: Decline trend continues to plague magazines; top order remains unchanged
IRS Q2 2010: HT continues lead in Delhi & Delhi NCR; negative growth for top 2 players
IRS Q2 2010: Business dailies put up a decent show; magazines still fighting it out
IRS Q2 2010: Top 10 Hindi dailies witness ups and downs; Dainik Jagran remains the leader
IRS Q2 2010: Daily Thanthi shows growth amid declining AIRs among Tamil publications
IRS Q2 2010: Gujarati publications have a growth story to tell
IRS Q2 2010: Top Bengali dailies put up a good show; but periodicals show signs of fatigue
IRS Q2 2010: Mixed bag for Malayalam publications; some dailies see growth, all magazines drop
IRS Q2 2010: Mixed bag for Telugu publications
IRS Q2 2010: Top Punjabi publications witness general growth trend
IRS 2010 Q2: No joy for Assamese publications as AIRs continue to decline
IRS Q2 2010: Oriya publications take the de-growth route
IRS Q2 2010: No surprises in Urdu publications; Inquilab, Siasat hold top positions