Chennai: There has been an increase in the reach of the press, television, radio and the Internet during the last year, while cinema generally recorded a decline in audiences, the findings of the National Readership Study 2006 (NRS 2006) reveal.

Dailies had a total readership of 203.6 million, adding 12.6 million readers during the year. The print media, that is, dailies and periodicals combined, had a readership of 222 million. The study says urban readers spend 44 minutes a day on newspapers and rural readers, 35 minutes.

The National Readership Studies Council, an autonomous division of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, released the findings of NRS 2006 in Mumbai on Tuesday.

The Times of India is the most read English daily with 7.4 million readers. The Hindu is second with 4.05 million readers. It has overtaken Hindustan Times, which stands third with an estimated readership of 3.85 million readers.

Television now reaches 112 million homes, including 68 million households with access to cable and satellite TV. Satellite television grew in reach from 207 million individuals watching in an average week in 2005 to 230 million individuals in 2006.

Radio showed a resurgence, with its reach increasing from 23 per cent to 27 per cent of the population in an average week. FM radio led the growth with 119 million listeners, a 55 per cent rise over last year.

The number of Internet users logging on every week grew from 7.2 million to 9.4 million, with faster growth in urban areas. However, the number of individuals who accessed the Internet in the last three months was 12.6 million. The number of mobile phone users accessing value-added services also rose during the year.

National Readership Studies Council

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