38% readers spend an hour on newspapers during lockdown

The telephonic survey conducted across four states indicated that newspapers are "truly an essential service and continues to be the most credible source of information". The survey provided insights into the evolving reading habits of people, by understanding the newspaper reading pattern of readers before and after lockdown.

Sandeep Sharma, chief operating officer at the firm, told PrintWeek, "The survey was aimed at gauging the impact of the lockdown on the reading pattern and time spent by the public. The telephonic survey was conducted from 13 to 16 April 2020 across four states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh."

One of the key trends found by the study was that readers who spent more than 30 minutes in reading newspapers increased from 42% (pre-lockdown) to 72%; and consequently the average time spent increased from 38 minutes (pre lockdown) to 60 minutes.

Further, it found readers who spent more than an hour reading the newspaper increased from 16% to 38% post lockdown. Also, readers who spent less than 15 minutes on their newspaper decreased from 14% pre-lockdown to 3%.

One revealing trend the study found was that nearly 38% people read newspapers for more than an hour, whereas 42% people  read newspapers multiple times a day.

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