According to the average issue readership (AIR) of IRS 2019 Q2, The Times of India continued to top the Mumbai and Chennai markets while Hindustan Times led Delhi and Telegraph retained its leadership in Kolkata.

However, the total readership (TR) data on the basis of one-month recall delivered different results as The Times of India was leading in Mumbai and Delhi. The Hindu outnumbered The Times of India in Chennai in terms of total readership. Telegraph led Kolkata in both TR and AIR.

The Times of India was leading the Mumbai market with an AIR of 13,17,000 in IRS 2019 Q2, up about 3% from 12,80,000 in the previous survey.

Hindustan Times witnessed marginal decline in its AIR over the previous quarter results. The English daily recorded an AIR of 8,69,000 in Mumbai, down about 2% from 8,85,000 in Q1.

In terms of total readership (TR), TOI was leading in Mumbai with 26,25,000 in IRS 2019 Q2, up 4.3% from 25,17,000 in the previous quarter. HT recorded a TR of 17,34,000, up 5.7% from 16,40,000 in Q1.

In Delhi, Hindustan Times was leading with an AIR of 11,14,000 in IRS 2019 Q2, down by 8.7% from 12,20,000 in the previous quarter.

According to a press statement released by HT, the daily continues to be the number one newspaper for the 17th time with an AIR of 17-lakh in Delhi-NCR. HT also said that it continues to strengthen its presence in Punjab and has emerged the number one newspaper of the region yet again with an AIR of 3.5-lakh.

The Times of India also witnessed a marginal drop in its AIR in Delhi market and recorded an AIR of 9,58,000, down 1.8% from 9,76,000 in the previous quarter.

The Times of India was leading in Delhi in total readership as the English daily outnumbered HT and recorded a TR of 20,58,000 in the current survey, up 3% from 20,01,000 in Q1.

Hindustan Times’ TR dropped by 4.33% and was marginally behind TOI at 20,54,000. The daily was number one in Delhi according to the total readership in Q1 with 21,47,000 readers.

TOI maintained its leadership in Chennai as its AIR was recorded at 2,65,000 in IRS 2019 Q2 as compared with 2,64,000 in the previous quarter.

The Hindu had an AIR of 2,51,000 in the current survey, down by 5% from 2,63,000 in the previous quarter. In terms of total readership, The Hindu outnumbered TOI with 8,03,000 of TR in IRS 2019 Q2, up 5.8% from 7,59,000 in the previous quarter. TOI recorded a TR of 7,43,000, 3.3% up from 7,19,000 in IRS 2019 Q1.

The Telegraph led Kolkata market with an AIR of 3,47,000 in IRS 2019 Q2 compared with 3,44,000 in the previous survey. The Telegraph had a total readership of 7,39,000 in the current survey compared with 7,58,000 on the previous survey. The Times of India’s AIR in Kolkata remained unchanged at 3,23,000 in the current survey. The total readership of TOI was 6,32,000 in IRS 2019 Q2.