Dainik Jagran, Times Of India Emerge Most Popular Newspapers Of India; Here Is The Top 10 List

By Radha Joglekar Last updated Apr 30, 2019

If you think no one bothers reading a newspaper these days when all the latest news updates are available to us on a smartphone, you are quite mistaken. A recent survey has shown that the readership of the popular English newspaper, The Hindu, has expanded by around 17%.

Which leads us to wonder about some of the biggest newspapers in India and their growth in the country. How is it that these newspapers have survived the digital revolution the nation has seen and continue to do so?

Indian Readership Survey 2019

This survey is conducted by Nielsen for the Media Research Users Council (MRUC), and is called the Indian Readership Survey. What makes this survey even more genuine is that it is the world’s largest readership survey.

The survey has a positive graph not only for newspapers but magazines too. Since the Indian Readership Survey of 2017, newspapers in India have an increased readership of about 1.8 crore. Magazines, too, have about 90 lakh additional readers.

Ashish Bhasin, CEO, Greater South & Chairman & CEO-India, Dentsu Aegis Network and Chairman MRUC said, “The print story continues to grow with the total number of readers increasing from 40.7 crore to 42.5 crore.”

India’s Top Newspapers

Of the total readership, these are the ten newspapers that are at the top of the list –

Dainik Jagran
Dainik Bhaskar
Amar Ujala
Daily Thanthi
Rajasthan Patrika
Malayala Manorama (Daily)
Eenadu
The Times of India
Prabhat Khabar.

Additionally, as per the number of reads these newspapers had in 2017, the first quarter of 2019 has seen a definite increase in the figures.

The newspaper with the maximum readership, Dainik Jagran had a viewership of 70,377,000 as of 2017, which saw a rise up to 73,673,000 in the first quarter of 2019.

Dainik Bhaskar stands second, with a drastic difference though. The paper had 45,105,000 readers in 2017, which went up to 51,405,000 in 2019.

English and Regional Newspapers

In the English newspaper segment, The Times of India is in the lead with 13,405,000 readers in 2017 and 15,236,000 in 2019. This is followed by The Hindu which has about 62,26,000 readers in 2019 as compared to 2017’s 53,00,000.

Here are the top ten English newspapers of India:

The Times Of India
The Hindu English
The Economic Times (English)
Mumbai Mirror
The Indian Express
The New Indian Express
The Tribune
The Telegraph
Deccan Chronicle
Mid Day

The survey also lists regional language newspapers, wherein Daily Thanthi, Lokmat, Malayala Manorama (Daily), Eenadu, Mathrubhumi are at the top of the list.

Bhasin also said, “Also the internet usage has increased with India now having a total of 384 million active internet users. These findings are in line with the market truths and a testimony of IRS’ rigorous processes and quality control norms.”

Today, the common Indian relies heavily on the smartphone and the digital media for news, there are a few downsides to that too. With the rate at which fake news are going viral, print media is considered to be reliable and authentic, which is probably the reason behind the increased readership of the print media.

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