Newspaper readership in India has not been measured since 2019. The 2020 edition of the Indian Readership Survey, an annual nationwide survey to estimate the number of newspaper readers, was abruptly suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that door-to-door surveys are feasible once again, the IRS which provided readership data four times a year, .

For the print media industry in India and their advertisers, this survey provides crucial insights into readership patterns. Newspapers need advertisers to stay afloat, and advertisers need readership numbers to justify their spending. Readership surveys make that possible.

Of course, many newspaper readers have migrated online, . But newspapers are still being read. Based on the , 36% (or 400 million) of Indians ages 12 and older had read a daily newspaper at least once a month. Since then newspaper readership hasn’t been publicly assessed.

Being informed empowers people to make more responsible individual and collective decisions. At a time when social media is rife with misinformation, and , credible sources of information such as newspapers are more important than ever.

Reviving the Indian Readership...